(UPDATED at 8:41 a.m. PDT July 15, 2020)
The Mineral Fire spread incrementally to the north Tuesday and Tuesday night. Most of the additional growth was on the south side adjacent to highway 198 which may be a firing operation by firefighters to tie it in with the highway.
The fire started Monday afternoon and is seven miles west of Coalinga, California and 29 miles east of King City.
An update from CAL FIRE Wednesday morning said the fire had burned 11,000 acres and evacuations were still in place.
CAL FIRE’s new format for updating citizens about ongoing fires contains much less information than previous versions.
(Originally published at 6:41 p.m. PDT July 14, 2020)
The Mineral Fire, reported at about 3:30 p.m. July 13, is burning in a remote area 7 miles west of Coalinga, California east of King City. So far it has remained north of Highway 198 and is on both sides of S. Coalinga-Mineral Springs Road.
Evacuations are in progress.
Our very, very unofficial estimate of the size of the fire, based on heat detected by a satellite at 1:24 p.m. MDT July 14, 2020, puts it at approximately 6,500 acres.
The video below posted Tuesday morning shows very active fire behavior, including numerous spot fires out ahead of the main fire.
Probably the most extreme fire behavior I’ve seen firsthand in my short career #mineralfire pic.twitter.com/vN9XrapRtd
— CoRo (@RolinCoth1) July 14, 2020
