The Smith River Complex is made up of 13 wildfires, burning a total of around 4,000 acres. They鈥檙e located mostly north and east of the community of Gasquet in the Six Rivers National Forest. A variety of mandatory evacuations have been issued in the area.
On Wednesday afternoon, Highway 199, also known as Redwood Highway, closed in Del Norte County between mile markers 16 and 31 because of dangerous fire conditions. It鈥檚 expected to stay closed for three to four days, according to firefighting personnel.
鈥淲e have a ton of debris that has come down on the road. The road is basically impassable between the rocks and the fire-weakened trees that have come down,鈥� said Tom Stokesberry, a public information officer with the California Interagency Incident Management Team 15, which took over management of the fire on Thursday.
There have been no reports of injuries or damaged structures so far.
Windy conditions and lighting are expected in the next few days, but Stokesbury said his team has orders in for more firefighting resources.
鈥淭he entire North State was hit pretty hard with lightning, and there鈥檚 fires across Northern California here in Region 5, so right now resources are thin,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e got the orders in, and they鈥檙e coming in from all over the Western U.S."
