©USForestService

A campfire that escaped control in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is being blamed for starting the Root Fire that erupted on Labor Day and ballooned to 759 acres west of Castella, prompting evacuations in the area. Flames jumped beyond the campfire’s perimeter about 3 miles west of Interstate 5 at Castella. The fire was reported on Sept. 1 and quickly spread through dry grass and trees… Forest service officials did not release any other information about the incident, which occurred just over two weeks after they activated fire restrictions at Shasta-Trinity due to the hot and dry conditions. Crews attacked the fire from the air and made strong gains. As of Thursday, firefighters had built containment lines around 45% of the fire, up from zero on Wednesday morning. Firefighters expressed hope that several days of cooler weather will help calm Root and other fires, and stop them from spreading through extremely dry forestland.