NORTH COAST, Calif. – Firefighters on Saturday continued to increase containment on a wildland fire complex in northern Mendocino County.
The North Pass Fire is 84-percent contained at 41,983 acres, with firefighters having kept the acreage from increasing for several days.
The complex includes two lightning-caused fires that have been burning along Mendocino Pass Road, northeast of Covelo, since Saturday, Aug. 18.
The fires are expected to be fully contained on Monday, according to the unified command of Cal Fire and the US Forest Service.
A Cal Fire damage assessment team inspected private lands to discover a total of 26 structures destroyed and four damaged.
Cal Fire and the Forest Service had 610 personnel on scene Saturday, with 10 engines, nine fire crews, four helicopters, five bulldozers and 19 water tenders.
Incident command’s latest report said patrol and fire suppression repair are taking place on the south portion of the fire perimeter around private lands. There also is patrol and mop up on the eastern edge of the fire as it smolders near the Middle Fork of the Eel River.
Hand crews are still required to improve and hold fire line in the north and west portion of the fire, officials reported. Crews also are working on Forest Highway 7 repairing fire line that will result in the road staying closed.
Limited evacuations remain in effect for parts of the Bauer subdivision area along Forest Highway 7 as well as Indian Dick Road (Forest Road M-1), with the Covelo Ranger District north of Mendocino Pass Road to the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forest boundaries remaining under a closure order.
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