© 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
Southern Oregon University
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6301 | 800.782.6191
a service of Southern Oregon University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
00000171-95d3-d2cb-a5f3-9fff6ded0000 Check here for information on fires in our region. You can also check out these resources:Northwest Interagency Coordination CenterSWOFIRE: Oregon Department of Forestry, SW regionCalFire: Current Fire InformationInciWeb: Incident Information SystemOregon Smoke Blog: Smoke informationSouth Central Oregon Fire Management Cooperative (Klamath/Lake Counties & Crater Lake)

Hirz Fire Is Challenging Firefighters In Shasta County

Cal Fire
The Hat Fire soon after it started.

UPDATE: MONDAY, AUG. 13, 11:30 a.m. --  The Hirz fire near Shasta Lake is proving to be the more troublesome of the two new fires that started in Shasta County late last week, as crews work to get their arms around the fire's spread.

The Hat fire near Fall River Mills is being brought under control. It has burned 1,900 acreas and is 62 percent contained.

Firefighters continue working in the steep and difficult terrain to increase and strengthen containment line. In other areas crews mop and patrol and fire suppression has begun

All evacuations and road closures have been lifted. SR 299 is open again. Travelers are asked to drive slowly and yield to emergency personnel in the area. There may still be smoke in areas, as firefighters continue operations.

The Hirz fire is burning in extremely steep and rugged terrain west of Gilman Road near the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake. It's approximately 4,404 acres as of this morning and is 5 percent contained.

Fire is expected to continue to spread along Gilman Road. Firefighters report little spread toward the south between Hirz Mountain and Hirz Bay. Crews and bulldozers are continuing to work to connect Gilman and Hirz Mountain roads .As air quality permits, Air Tankers and Helicopters continue to attack the fire.

There are currently evacuation orders for 8 residents north of Gilman Road in the area of Hirz Mountain Road

UPDATE: FRIDAY, AUG. 10 , 9:45 -- Just as the destructive Carr Fire approached the halfway mark in containment, two new fires broke out in Shasta County.

The larger of the two, the Hat Fire,  is burning in brushy land near Fall River Mills, in eastern Shasta County.  First reports of the fire came in sometime after 3 PM.  As of 7:22 on Friday morning, it had burned 2,500 acres and was 15 percent contained.

A red flag warning for extreme fire weather was in effect at the time, and National Weather Service maps show wind gusts in nearby Burney up to 24 miles per hour.  State highway 299 remains closed after the fire burned across it.

The Shasta County Sheriff called for evacuations along Glenburn Road.  An evacuation shelter was set up at Fall River Mills High School, but a power outage forced the shelter to move to the community center in Adin, more than 30 miles further east.

At Shasta Lake, three fires collectively called the Hirz Fire covered 450 acres by Friday morning, burning in oak woodland near Hirz Bay on the McCloud River arm of the lake.  The Shasta-Trinity National Forest reported that the two larger fires had merged and the single fire was burning toward Hirz Mountain.  The fire is 10 percent contained as of 9 a.m. Friday.

As one Twitter contributor said of the new activity, "This is terrible. It might be easier to show what parts of California AREN'T on fire at this point."