The Smith River wildfire complex has passed 70,000 acres, and over the weekend the fire reached the edge of the evacuated community of Gasquet.
There is no containment yet of the main fire — the merged Kelly/Holiday fire — although secured lines on smaller fires brought the containment figure for the complex to 6% on Monday, Aug. 28, said fire managers for the U.S. Forest Service. The burned area was at 70,716 acres (110 square miles).
Twenty miles to the southeast, the Elliot and Swillup fires of the Happy Camp Complex merged over the weekend. On Monday, they accounted for 7,877 acres of that complex’s 19,205 (30 square miles). Containment was 2% for the merged fire now called Elliot and 35% for the complex’s Head Fire, near Scott Bar.
The Smith River and Happy Camp fires started during lightning storms on Aug. 15-16. In the map above, the mandatory evacuation area is shown in red and the approximate perimeters of the largest fires in black. Colored dots indicate locations of smaller fires.
For official updates and more information, see the links under each description below.
Del Norte County
Smith River Complex (orange dots). 70,716 acres (110 square miles); almost all of that is the Kelly Fire, which merged with Holiday and crossed into Oregon.
Evacuation order: Gasquet and all other communities along Highway 199 from just east of Hiouchi to the Oregon line, plus residents in forested areas near the major fires.
Power outage: Pacific Power de-energized transmission lines in the county in the early days of the fire. Power restoration has begun and was expected to be complete for customers in Crescent City, Smith River and Fort Dick by Friday, Aug. 25.
Schools: Opening date has been pushed back to Sept. 5.
More information
Del Norte County emergency services
Fire map from Josephine County, Oregon
Six Rivers National Forest
Pacific Power outage update
Siskiyou County
Happy Camp Complex (red dots). Initially 13 fires, the complex now totals 19,205 acres (30 square miles). More than 1,600 structures are threatened and nine have been destroyed. One resident, a 71-year-old man, was found dead outside his home near Scott Bar, in the evacuation zone.
Evacuation order: Two areas totaling about 300 square miles, shown in red on the map. The warning areas are not shown; find them with the Genasys link.
More information
Siskiyou County sheriff
Klamath National Forest
Genasys Protect evacuation map (formerly Zonehaven)
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