CAL-FIRE says the fire is burning through an area that hasn't had a fire since the late 1970's.
“As intense as it is in some places here, it's just simply not safe to put our fire crews in there," says CAL-FIRE's David Shew. "So, we're having to go ahead and wait until the fire burns out of some of these canyons or we do control lines and do backfiring operations to bring the fire to us."
Shew says two DC-10s are dropping flame retardant on the fire. One structure has been destroyed and 100 more are threatened.
There are mandatory evacuations for Oak Hill Lane, Curry Canyon, Curry Lane, Curry Point, Trail Ride Road, East Trail Road, Russelman Park Road, Upper Trail Road and Lower Trail Road.
An evacuation center has been set up at the Clayton Community Library at 6125 Clayton Road, Clayton, California.
A special Cal Fire incident command team is expected to begin directing the fire fight this evening.
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