Update: Interstate 80 reopens after hourslong closure for Vacaville wildfire, CHP says
A five-mile section of Interstate 80 in Solano County was shut down for several hours Wednesday afternoon as a wildfire burned on both flanks, prompting mass traffic jams on area surface roads as drivers attempted to skirt the fire zone.
THURSDAY’S UPDATES: MILD WEATHER PUTS CAL FIRE IN ‘A LOT BETTER PLACE’
CalFire officials on Thursday reported better conditions, although freeway repair work in the Paradise Valley area was causing eastbound morning traffic to jam for about a mile in Fairfield. That work could last for several hours through early afternoon, Caltrans reports.
Officials were forced to shut the freeway down just after 4 p.m. Wednesday when the powerful Hennessey Fire, part of a massive series of blazes, swept down a hillside north of Fairfield, hesitated momentarily at the edge of the eight-lane freeway, then leaped across and began spreading in the Paradise Valley area south of the freeway.
That led to the a mandatory evacuation of non-essential personnel at nearby Travis Air Force Base.
Highway officials at one point indicated the roadway would be closed during the night as fire crews fought the blaze. A posting on Caltrans’ official Quickmap website on Wednesday evening said the freeway had expected to remain closed until 8 a.m. Thursday.
The fire, which was sparked by a lightning storm Monday in the hills west of Fairfield and Vacaville, continued to burn Wednesday evening with no containment.
The fire has destroyed an undetermined number of homesteads in the Pleasants Valley Road area, and forced evacuation of several thousand residents of Vacaville and Fairfield Wednesday.
The closure led to traffic jams Wednesday on Highways 12 and 113, Vanden Road and numerous other alternate routes in the Fairfield and south Vacaville areas.
The Hennessey Fire, which ignited Monday morning near Hennessey Ridge Road in Napa County, is part of a series of lightning-caused blazes in the North Bay called the LNU Lightning Complex, which has produced spot fires in the hills of Solano, Napa, Yolo, Sonoma and Lake counties, burning 175 structures and scorching 124,000 acres as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The fires continued to burn out of control into the night, threatening 125,000 structures.
The fire had not penetrated Fairfield proper as of evening, and had only marginally burned into Vacaville earlier in the day. Several thousand residents of the two cities remained evacuated at nightfall.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 8:55 PM with the headline "Update: Interstate 80 reopens after hourslong closure for Vacaville wildfire, CHP says."