Canyon fire forces evacuations in part of rural Napa County

A small wildfire broke out Monday afternoon in a rural section of eastern Napa County just south of Lake Berryessa, closing a section of Highway 128 and forcing residents of nine homes to evacuate.

The Canyon fire started at 1:15 p.m. about 16 miles east of St. Helena, Cal Fire said in an incident report. By 6:30 p.m., the blaze had burned roughly 55 acres and was 60 percent contained, said Cal Fire spokesman Robert Foxworthy.

Firefighters were optimistic they had halted the flames from advancing.

“I would say the forward progress of the fire has stopped. They haven’t changed the acreage in probably five hours. So I wouldn’t expect it to get any bigger overnight,” Foxworthy said. “I can’t say 100% (but) ... I would say they turned the corner on it.”

Evacuations began shortly after 3 p.m. on the south side of Highway 128 in the 6500-7000 block of Wragg Canyon Road, the Napa County Office of Emergency Services said. Highway 128 was closed to all traffic in that area Monday afternoon, authorities said.

The highway remained closed from the Monticello Dam to Wragg Canyon Road Monday evening, Foxworthy said. No structures were damaged.

Carole Meredith, co-owner of Lagier Meredith Vineyard, said she could see the smoke from her vineyard on west side of Napa Valley.

“It doesn’t look to me like it’s threatening anything in the Napa Valley,” she said. “It’s diffuse smoke, and I’m not terribly concerned about this. I think it’s a fairly small fire, and humidity is high and the winds are pretty light.”

Two other fires further south in California that broke out Sunday continued to burn Monday night, according to Cal Fire incident reports. The Tejon fire in Kern County burned 208 acres and was 80% contained Monday evening, while the Valley fire in Mariposa County burned 149 acres and was 100% contained, Cal Fire said.