UPDATE: Fire persists, highway still closed

A brush fire on the Colusa-Yolo county line persisted Tuesday, keeping Highway 16 southwest of Williams shut down for a second day.

The Rumsey Fire spread to 615 acres of brush and grasses in hills near the Coast Range, according to Cal Fire’s Sacramento headquarters. Fire crews had contained about 40 percent of the fire as of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Authorities blocked Highway 16 from the Highway 20 intersection south to Yolo County Road 41 since shortly after the blaze began Monday afternoon.

Windy conditions and the resulting flare-ups of flames will keep the road closed at least until this morning, according to Sgt. Brian Donnelly of the California Highway Patrol in Williams.

More than 250 firefighters – mostly from Cal Fires’s St. Helena station – have battled the blaze, which the agency said began in a campground north of Rumsey. The area’s remote, steep terrain has forced crews to bring water tenders and air tankers to fight the flames.

A house and two outbuildings were destroyed by fire on Monday, and one firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion in the 100-degree weather, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Mary Welna.

Cal Fire said a vehicle at Cache Creek Campground, about 20 miles from Williams, may have ignited parched grasses and started the blaze.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.