Firefighters Respond to River Fire, Forest Service Urges Caution

BLAIRSDEN — Around 8:40 in the evening of June 23, area firefighters were notified of a large volume of smoke seen north of Clio. Responding resources, including engines and hand crews from the Forest Service and Graeagle Fire and personnel from Union Pacific Railroad, found fire burning downslope in brush and timber litter with four-foot flame lengths in a roadless area on the south side of the Union Pacific track.

The fire, named the River Fire, was contained with hand lines by around 10:30 PM at a size of about half an acre. No structures were directly threatened, but firefighters at the scene said that houses in the C Road area north of the fire could have been in danger if it had developed in the afternoon, when lower humidity and stronger winds could have caused it to spread across the tracks. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Forest Service officials said in a press release the day after the fire that the behavior of the River Fire was an indication of how quickly wildfires can spread, even early in the season, and urged residents and visitors to help prevent wildfires.

Conditions in Plumas National Forest have not yet reached the point where fire restrictions are needed, officials said, but they expect that point to be reached in the coming weeks.