Map: Mountain Fire jumps control line, sudden evacuation order issued

The Mountain Fire, which had stayed within its footprint for almost a week, jumped a control line over the weekend, and evacuations were again ordered in the area west of Weed.

The wildfire, which started on Sept. 2, had grown only minimally since last Monday, Sept. 5, remaining at 11,562 acres. All evacuation orders had been lifted.

On Saturday night, though, when the area was under a red-flag warning for gusty winds and low humidity, a spot fire broke out beyond the control line on the fire’s northeast perimeter.

Evacuations were ordered again, and by Sunday evening, the fire had grown 1,700 acres, to 13,249 (20.7 square miles). Containment, formerly 70%, was down to 60%.

The Zonehaven map below shows the evacuation order area in red and the warning in yellow. The green indicates that all orders have been lifted for the area of the Mill Fire, 10 miles to the east.