Cheney Blaze Near Containment; SIFC Confirms Over 80 Fires

Firefighters today worked toward full containment of the Cheney Fire, a lightning-sparked blaze that burned 625 acres and forced evacuation of about 100 homes near the western edge of Susanville last night.

Meanwhile, other fire crews and equipment were on the move in northeast California, responding to dozens of fires caused by three days of intense thunderstorms. Several wild fires were gaining in size and some remained un-staffed, said officials at the Susanville Interagency Fire Center.

SIFC officials said the Cheney Fire had been 70 percent contained by mid afternoon today. They predicted full containment for Friday, July 30. No homes were lost. Evacuation orders for the Marino Manor Subdivision and several surrounding neighborhoods were lifted last night.

Meanwhile, fire crews were kept busy responding to smoke reports and battling lighting fires burning across the 6.5 million acres of public and private land protected by SIFC agencies.

"Since Sunday, we have investigated more than 100 fire reports. We have had 80 confirmed fires. Some are getting big. Because our fire fighting resources are depleted, we have not been able to send engines or crews to every fire," said Craig Kincaid, a co-manager of the SIFC command center.

Of particular concern today was the Observation Complex, a group of 10 fires burning across a wide area of Bureau of Land Management-administered rangelands about 30 miles northeast of Susanville.

The complex included a 2,000-acre fire on the slopes of Observation Mountain southeast of Ravendale and smaller fires near Smoke Creek, Horse Land and Fredonyer Peak. A fire management team took over management of the fire today and established an incident base camp at Shaffer School in Litchfield.

Crews were responding to fire reports across the region protected by SIFC agencies. Lightning fires were reported in the Bieber and Alturas areas, on parts of the Lassen National Forest, on wildlands surrounding Susanville and on high desert rangelands in the far northeast corner of California and extreme northwest Nevada.

-SIFC-

Susanville Interagency Fire Center 1491 Fifth St., Susanville, CA 96130
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Lassen National Forest
Bureau of Land Management - Lassen Volcanic National Park

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