Firefighter injured battling 8,285 acre Shelly Fire; new evacuation orders

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. – The Shelly Fire burning on the Klamath National Forest in the Marble Mountains Wilderness is now at 8,285 acres. The fire, which has been burning for a week, has grown 2,000 acres since Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the fire is still at 0% containment.

The growth of the fire has slowed, but continues to expand into both the north and east.

The national forest issued a new closure on Wednesday afternoon, which mostly affects the Marble Mountain Wilderness area.

According to CAL FIRE, an inversion broke Tuesday afternoon and winds kicked up a bit forcing more evacuation orders in the area of Patterson Creek Road. Additionally, in its Tuesday evening incident report, the agency said 4,274 structures are threatened and one firefighter has been injured, however the extent of their injuries is unknown.

NBC5 News spoke with the fire’s information officer Darren McMillin who said multiple firefighters have been injured, but not seriously.

“Yesterday, I believe there was one or two, and today a couple,” said McMillin. “They’ve been pretty minor; bee stings, twisted ankle, maybe one heat exhaustion. So there have been a couple of injuries, but nothing too terrible.”

New resources are expected Wednesday which will help develop structure plans in the event that the fire moves into surrounding communities. That includes building on the defensible space that the homeowners have already begun. This will also allow current resources to focus on strengthening lines around the fire.

According to Caltrans, State Route 3 is closed from Greenview to Etna because of fire activity in that area.

The following zones are under evacuation orders, meaning leave now. An evacuation shelter has been set up at the Kahtishraam Wellness Center in Yreka.