One evacuation area grew and one shrank Friday for wildfires burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Fresno County.
The mandatory evacuation zone was extended for the Basin Fire, burning north from the Kings River upstream of Pine Flat Lake. As of Friday afternoon, that fire had burned 7,472 acres (11.7 square miles), said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Ten miles to the southwest, some repopulation was allowed and Highway 180 was reopened with increased contaiment of the combined Bolt and Flash fires, CalFire said.
Those two fires started on Monday, June 24, and merged on Wednesday. Together with several small fires they make up the Fresno June Lightning Complex, which at 10,669 acres (16.7 square miles) is the fourth biggest wildfire of California’s season, after Sites, Post and Corral.
The map above shows the approximate perimeters of the fires as a black line and the mandatory evacuation areas in red. For more details of the evacuations, including areas under warning, see Fresno County’s emergency map.
An evacuation shelter was set up at Reedley College (995 N. Reed Ave., Reedley). Small pets are being accepted at the Reedley site; large animals can be taken to the fairgrounds in Fresno (1121 S. Chance Ave.).