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As of Friday morning, the Hill Fire burning south of Willow Creek has grown to approximately 4,544 acres with 0% containment.

An evacuation order remains in place for residents in Zone HUM-E077-A. The evacuation order for HUM-E077-C has been downgraded to an evacuation warning. Still, residents should “be ready to leave at a moment’s notice if conditions deteriorate,” according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.

The following additional information comes from Six Rivers National Forest:

Yesterday, spot fires along Friday Ridge were successfully contained. Firing operations were completed along Route 1, reinforcing that road as a potential containment line. Crews constructed direct and indirect dozer line along the south and southwest corner of the fire and continued to scout along the west side of the fire for opportunities to go direct.

The latest Hill Fire perimeter map. Click to enlarge.

Today firefighters will continue with firing operations along Route 1 to reinforce that potential containment line. Crews will mop-up the spot fires to the north to ensure they stay within the footprint of their fire perimeters. Crews will also continue scouting to the north and east of the fire for opportunities to go direct or possibly indirect depending on potential risk to firefighter safety. As a precaution, a structure protection group will be assessing structure protection needs within the communities of Friday Ridge, Willow Creek and South Fork Road. Air resources continue to perform water and retardant drops along the perimeter of the fire. Despite commercial airline disruptions, incident air operations will not be impacted.

Fire weather includes low humidity recovery along the ridgetops, continued dry conditions, with temperatures in the 80’s along the ridgetops. Winds will be north and northwesterly with gusts up to 10- 15 mph during the day.

Fire behavior is expected to be relatively moderate, similar to yesterday with flanking and backing activity to the north. The north side of the fire is burning within the footprint of Ammons fire where the fuels are sparse which results in minimal fire behavior in that area. There is potential for growth to the south of the fire due to the north/northwesterly winds.

Evacuation Information:

Evacuation order and warnings remain in effect. For current updates on evacuations, visit https://www.facebook.com/HumboldtSheriff and https://humboldtgov.org/2383/Current-Emergencies. Conditions are subject to change at any time, visit https://protect.genasys.com/search for a full zone description.

Sign up for Humboldt Alert emergency notifications at https://humboldtgov.org/2014/Emergency-Notifications.

Closures:

Forest Closure Order currently in effect for the area impacted by the Hill Fire. It is temporarily prohibited to be on any national forest system land, trail, or road within the closure area. To view the closure order and map of closure area visit the following link www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1191963.pdf

Road closures are currently in place on Friday Ridge Rd. at Forest Service Route 6N06, Friday Ridge Rd. at Forest Route 5N01 and Friday Fridge Rd. at Forest Route 5N04. For updated road closure information, visit protect.genasys.com or humboldtsheriff.org/emergency.

Fire Restrictions:

Forest fire restrictions currently in effect across the Six Rivers National Forest. Campfires and stove fires are restricted to those developed areas listed in the forest order located at https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1188610.pdf.

Smoking, welding, and operating an internal combustion engine also have restrictions in place.