The Lava fire near the base of Mount Shasta continued to grow overnight, now topping 17,500 acres. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office says all evacuation orders in the area remain in place. The blaze is just 19% contained after breaking out last Friday due to dry lightning strikes. Officials are now apologizing for the lack of containment Friday. Todd Mack, Shasta Trinity National Forest fire management officer, says when crews left on Friday, they believed the blaze to be contained. Friday night is when the real damage occurred, prompting evacuations and growing the blaze to reach what is now over 17,000 acres.
Meanwhile, the fire continues to threaten a remote part of Siskiyou County that is home to several large marijuana growing operations. The Sheriff's office says deputies were forced to shoot and kill a man who shot at them in the Lava Fire zone Monday. Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said that a confrontation started when deputies tried to stop the man from driving into a large complex of evacuated cannabis farms. His name has not been released, but the Sheriff says he was a 30-year-old Hmong man.
Currently, highway 97 is closed between the City of Weed and the City of Dorris. Nearly 1,000 firefighters are working to build containment lines in the remote part of Siskiyou county.