New California wildfires prompt highway closures, evacuations

Caltrans has shut down a section of Interstate 5 in Northern California because of a large wildfire that broke out Wednesday afternoon.

The Delta Fire broke out at around 1:30 p.m. in the Lakehead area of Shasta County. 

As of 3:30 p.m., officials with the Shasta-Trinity National Forest said the fire had burned approximately 500 acres.

I-5 was closed between Mt. Shasta and Redding, and the Shasta County Sheriff was evacuating both sides of the interstate north of Lakehead to the Shasta-Siskiyou county line.

Meanwhile, a forest fire in the eastern Sierra Nevada continued to grow Wednesday, and the effect on travel was increasing.
    
Highway 108 was closed from the Alpine-Mono county line to Highway 395, which was already shut down in the mountainous region about 200 miles east of Sacramento, the California Department of Transportation said. The closure of Highway 395 extends from the town of Bridgeport to just south of the community of Walker. 
    
Additional firefighting resources were summoned as the Boot Fire grew to approximately 3,000 acres on Wednesday. It broke out the day before.
    
Evacuation orders are in place for the Bootleg, Chris Flat and Sonora Bridge campgrounds. Some structures are also said to be threatened in the Burchum Flats area east of Walker Canyon.

The Pacific Coast Trail was also closed between Highway 108 at Sonora Pass and Highway 4 at Ebbetts Pass because of the Donnell Fire, which was just to the west of the Boot Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest.

By Wednesday afternoon, that fire had burned 36,349 acres and was 85 percent contained.

There were at least 16 active wildfires burning throughout the state of California as of Wednesday afternoon.