Sept. 10 -- Interstate 5, the state’s main north-south transportation artery, will remain closed indefinitely by the raging Delta Fire, authorities said Sunday.
The freeway has been shut down since Wednesday afternoon in both directions for a roughly 45-mile stretch from 10 miles north of Redding to 3.6 miles south of Mount Shasta.
Brandon Vaccaro, a U.S. Forest Service fire spokesman, said the blaze is still burning on both sides of the freeway but the flames are no longer close to the road.
“But there is some concern it could wrap back around the freeway,” he said. “That could force us to have to close the freeway again, which would be bad, or trap motorists on the freeway, which would be worse.”
Caltrans and California Highway Patrol officials, working with fire authorities, are regularly evaluating the freeway’s status.
With I-5 closed, drivers — many of them truckers — are forced to take a lengthy detour on highways 229 and 89 that adds two hours or more to the trip.
The Delta Fire is burning mostly to the northwest and north, Vaccaro said. The fire, which has scorched 40,903 acres and was just 5 percent contained Sunday night, burned intensely throughout Sunday with high temperatures and dry vegetation.
The fire’s eastern flank has connected with already burned areas of the Hirz Fire, where containment lines are restraining both fires. Fire officials said those shared lines account for the 5 percent containment.
In Napa County, the Snell Fire, which ignited Saturday near Lake Berryessa, grew to almost 2,000 acres in 24 hours. It grew by 500 acres Sunday to 2,400 acres, forcing evacuations of Berryessa Estates, Snell Valley Road and the west side of Berryessa-Knoxville Road from the Pope Creek Bridge to the Napa-Lake county line.
An evacuation center was set up at Pope Valley Farm Center at 5800 Pope Valley Road in Pope Valley.
According to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials, about 180 homes are threatened. The fire was burning in grassy oak woodlands at a moderate rate of spread in remote areas that make access more difficult. It was being fought by 1,241 firefighters on 31 crews. It was just 20 percent contained Sunday evening. Its cause is under investigation.
Meanwhile, firefighters were extending containment lines around the Ranch Fire, part of the Mendocino Complex burning in Lake, Mendocino and Colusa counties. The fire northeast of Ukiah was 98 percent contained and could reach full containment Monday.
The conflagration began July 27 and has burned through 459,123 acres. It is the state’s largest wildfire, far exceeding the previous record-holder, the Thomas Fire, which consumed 281,893 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in December.
Off of Interstate 80 near Emigrant Gap in Placer County, the North Fire was 77 percent contained Sunday after burning 1,120 acres and closing several campgrounds last week. Some of those campgrounds were reopening Sunday. The U.S. Forest Service had reported the acreage at nearly 1,300, but downsized the estimate after getting better mapping.
The Hirz Fire, northeast of Redding, was 95 percent contained Sunday after charring 46,150 acres.
The 573-acre Tulloch Fire at Highway 108 and Tulloch Road, about 50 miles west of Yosemite National Park, was 100 percent contained on Sunday.
Chronicle staff writer Roland Li contributed to this report.
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