By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, a call went out to the Orland Fire Department regarding a fire in the bed of Stony Creek.
Initially, the fire’s location was given as being near Highway 99 and County Road 9. In reality, it was on the south side of Stony Creek, directly north of the continuation school on Roosevelt Avenue.
Multiple reports of a large plume of black smoke were received. Calls for mutual aid went out to the fire departments of Capay, Hamilton City, Artois, Willows, and Cal Fire.
At about 8:10 p.m., the fire dispatcher in Corning received a report that the fire had covered about 10 acres and had a slow rate of spread. Firefighters were making progress with dozers and personnel.
In a video posted online, Assistant Orland Fire Chief John McDermott said he expected firefighters to remain on scene for about five more hours, which would be about midnight or so. At about 11:15 p.m., dispatch was told that the fire was about to be contained and that the fire departments called to render mutual aid would soon be released.
In the video, Assistant Chief McDermott also said firefighters would probably have to return to the scene over the next four or five days to extinguish rekindlings.
Early on, arson was mentioned as the cause and law enforcement was requested. One person said that a couple of kids were seen running from the area, and several people commented that the fire was in the area of a homeless camp.
The Glenn County Observer 