Firefighters Make Highway 20 Stand; Halt Pawnee Fire's Advance

LAKE COUNTY (CBS SF) -- Gusty winds woke up the slumbering beast known as the Pawnee Fire early Sunday.

Flames once again roared toward Highway 20 in the sandy hills of Lake County. In the middle of the highway, firefighters spray painted a yellow line.

This is where they would make their stand.

"The wind is coming from the north, and it's pushing the fire south," said Cal Fire's Guy Anderson. "We want to keep this fire north of Highway 20."

But in a matter of minutes, the fiery beast tore down the hillside and across the highway. Their defensive lined breached, firefighters had to chase the blaze across an open field and up a hillside.

Many of the firefighters waging a hand-to-hand battle with the flames. Slowly they beat the fir back.

"We also had pretty good ground here to fight a fire," Anderson said. "We had a road which helps, it can act as a fire break."

Overhead, air tankers and helicopters mounted an aerial attack.

"We try to plan out contingencies for each fire, based on intel and weather we try to manage as best we can," Anderson said.

by 3 p.m. the firefighters efforts and a slight shift of the wind got things settled down.

"Fortunately this time we had resources here to make our stand and stop it," Anderson said. "Got to give credit to the boots on the ground they did a fabulous job."