Lava Fire 70% contained, mandatory evacuations switch to warnings

WEED, CA. — Nearly 25,000 acres have burned in the Lava Fire near Weed, California.

Derek Tisinger with California Interagency Incident Management Team 1 says the fire is 70% contained.

He says crews have been struggling to fight the fire because of the terrain, which is steep and has old lava rocks.

Tisinger says 3 hotshot crews are hiking the mountainous area and camping out the next couple of weeks to finish mopping up.

“We were excited yesterday, we were able to re-populate the majority of the fire area where the evacuation orders were issued. There are some evacuation warnings in effect, but a majority of people were able to return home,” he said.

1,400 firefighters were battling the fire at the beginning of the week.

Since things have improved, 200 to 300 firefighters are now working to contain the fire.