BISHOP, California — Officials said Monday evening that people living in hundreds of homes still had to leave their homes because of a wildfire that was spreading forward. The fire was in a remote area of eastern California.
On Sunday afternoon, the Silver Fire started along Route 6 in Inyo County. It was about 8 kilometres (5 miles) northeast of Bishop in the Owens Valley, close to the Nevada border. The reason was being looked into.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Monday on the social network X that it had gone through about 6.5 square kilometres (about 2.5 square miles) of grass and brush. It was in 47% of the time.
After the fire started, people living in about 800 homes near the small towns of Laws, Chalfant, and White Mountain Estates were told to leave. On Monday night, officials didn’t say how many people were still following those orders.
Crews were going to stay overnight to work on control and keep an eye on hotspots.
Cal Fire spokeswoman Chloe Castillo said earlier Monday that the possibility of 65 mph (104 kph) gusts had reduced the flights of helicopters that drop water and kept air tankers on the ground.
“The winds change a lot,” she said. “One second they’re moving north, the next they’re moving east.”
Cal Fire said the fire was threatening Bishop Paiute Tribe land as well as places where protected species like the Owens pupfish and desert bighorn sheep live.
Recently, it hasn’t rained much in Inyo County, and it’s unusually dry, with some places going through extreme drought.
The U.S. Drought Monitor also says that most of Southern California is in a mild to severe drought.
