Grange Fire in Mendocino County prompts evacuations, closes Highway 128

Fire officials have downgraded the size of the Grange Fire in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley Thursday night.

According to updated assessments the blaze has scorched 80 acres, down from previous estimates of 150 acres, according to Cal Fire. It is 0% contained.

As of 8:30 p.m., Highway 128 is open to one-way traffic control. Total closures remain at Vista Ranch & Tumbling McD roads.

Most evacuation orders have been lifted, but as of 9 p.m. one still remained, MEN-3BON01-B. The zone is north of Highway 128, and to the south and east of Vista Ranch Road and west of Road 151 and Vista Ranch Road in the Philo area, according to Cal Fire.

Five other surrounding zones remain under evacuation warnings.

The Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville has been set up as an evacuation center for people and livestock. Small animals can be evacuated to the Ukiah Animal Shelter at 298 Plant Road, in Ukiah, officials said.

The fire, which started off Highway 128 around 3:38 p.m. Thursday quickly spread, divided by the highway, as the afternoon wore on.

Air resources, some of which had been fighting the Acorn Fire in Lake County’s Upper Lake, were quick to arrive at the fire, pounding it with retardant to stop its progress while law enforcement personnel drove up rural roads to evacuate residents from the path of the fire.

Authorities reported that some people refused to leave their homes, despite reports that at least one structure has been destroyed, according to broadcast radio traffic.

Highway 128 was closed to facilitate evacuations and the firefight.

Initial reports suggested a vehicle fire spread to surrounding vegetation, starting the fire, though Cal Fire Capt. Leah Simmons-Davis at the agency’s Howard Forest Station near Willits would say only that the fire was under investigation.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @MaryCallahanB.