CALIFORNIA | SIERRA NEVADA
Fire closes portion of U.S. 395 in California
A 40-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 395, gateway to the Sierras and Death Valley National Park, remained closed this morning while hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze.
The closed portion of the highway stretched from Holbrook Junction in Nevada at State Route 208 south to California State Route 182 in Bridgeport.
Fueled by winds gusting up to 65 mph, the wildfire on the Sierra's eastern front also forced the evacuation Tuesday of more than 100 people near the California-Nevada line south of Topaz Lake. No injuries or damage to homes was reported.
More than 600 firefighters were battling the fire into Tuesday night. But with air tankers and helicopters grounded in the sustained winds of 40 mph, the fire had tripled in size from 200 acres early in the day to an estimated 600 to 700 acres, fire officials said.
About 70 family members who live in U.S. Marine Corps housing at a training base north of Coleville were evacuated to the Topaz Lake Lodge, just north of the state line, where the Red Cross was prepared to provide food and shelter to as many as 100, Sierra fire spokesman Mark Struble said.
Others were being evacuated from about 50 homes that were immediately threatened in California's Mono County between Coleville and Walker. Another 150 structures were in the area of the fire about 45 miles southwest of Carson City, Nev., he said.
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