COVELO — The North Pass Fire held at 41,983 acres and was 68 percent contained Thursday morning.
Favorable weather conditions Wednesday allowed firefighters to make good progress on fire lines, according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Officials expect full containment to occur Monday.
The incident, caused by lightning on Aug. 18, is currently 75 percent in federal land and 25 percent in the state responsibility area, according to CAL FIRE. It burns near Mendocino Pass Road northeast of Covelo.
To date, seven homes and nine outbuildings were destroyed while another 11 homes, two commercial properties and 16 outbuildings remain threatened. Nine injuries were reported.
Evacuations were lifted for residents only on Indian Dick Road (Forest Road M-1) from Mendocino Pass Road (Forest Highway 7) to Boardman Camp and Mendocino Pass Road from Eel River Workstation to Benchmark 2444 (second driveway entrance to Bauer Ranch Subdivision).
Evacuations were lifted for a majority of the Bauer Ranch Subdivision.
Forest Highway 7 remains closed from Eel River Station to Mendocino Pass.
Response, which currently involves 1,088 fire personnel, is a unified command effort by CAL FIRE and the USFS.
For updated closure information, check www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino or www.inciweb.org/incident/3201/.
For fire information, visit http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current or call 983-6318.
