Bishop, California (AP) – The firefighters stopped the spread of the forest fire by tearing a region far from eastern California, but evacuation orders for residents of hundreds of houses remained in place, officials announced on Monday evening.
The silver fire broke out on Sunday afternoon along Route 6 in the county of Inyo, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northeast of Bishop in the Owens valley, near the Nevada border. The cause was under investigation.
It had produced nearly 2.5 square miles (approximately 6.5 square kilometers) of grass and brush, said the department of Forestry and California fire protection on Monday in an article on the social platform X. It was contained at 47%.
Residents of around 800 houses near the tiny communities of laws, Chalfant and White Mountain Estates were ordered to evacuate after the fire broke out. Officials did not provide an update Monday evening on the number of people still under these orders.
The crews had to spend the night to keep an eye on the hot spots and work on confinement.
The 65 MPH gust potential (104 km / h) had limited flights by breathtaking helicopters and kept oil tankers on the ground, said Cal Fire Castillo spokesperson earlier on Monday.
“The winds are very erratic,” she said. “A minute, they push north, the next, they go east.”
Cal Fire said the fire threatened land belonging to the Paiute bishop tribe as well as habitats for endangered species, including Bigorn Owens’ sheep and the desert.
The county of Inyo has received very few recent precipitation and is abnormally dry, certain areas suffering from extreme drought.
Similarly, most of Southern California is in extremely moderate drought, according to the American drought instructor.
