On Wednesday, smoke from burn piles mixed with fog to reduce the visibility to the point that Highway 44 between Redding, CA and Reno, NV had to be closed between 4:00 and 11:30 a.m. The 18 piles, each about 1/2 acre in size, were created by workers clearing a firebreak near Bogard, according to a spokesman from the Lassen National Forest. On a typical day, about 1,600 vehicles travel that section of Highway 44 near the Shasta County line.
