A wind-powered wildfire burning east of Bishop in Owens Valley has expanded to 4.100 acres, but firefighters were raising containment as high as 30% by Friday morning, authorities said.
The fire was reported near Airport Road and East Line Street at around 4pm on Wednesday.
The wildfire that broke out Wednesday afternoon near Airport Road and East Line Street has burned 4,136 acres, Cal Fire said in an incident update Thursday evening.
The fire stayed active overnight and burned 3.900 acres through noon Thursday, making it the largest wildfire in the state, Cal Fire spokeswoman Alison Hesterly said.
Cal Fire expects to have the fire completely contained by Thursday.
The flames threatened more than 150 buildings, leaving some Firefighting crews in protective mode but, by early afternoon, no reports of damage had come in, Hesterly said.
Evacuation orders have been lifted, but the White Mountain Research Center and the Caltech Owens Valley Radio Observatory continue to be under threat, Cal Fire said.
Big Pine east of Highway 395 was even subject to a mandatory evacuation order, according to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office.
