Mendocino County Sheriff orders evacuations in wildfire near Point Arena

POINT ARENA -- The Mendocino County Sheriff has ordered some mandatory evacuations Friday after a wildfire broke out in the area south of Point Arena, shutting down Highway 1.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Twitter account first posted about the fire shortly after 4 p.m. Friday in the area of Bill Owens Road and South Highway 1 near Schooner Gulch Beach on the coast, closing the highway.

According to initial reports, the fire was approximately 12 acres. Ground crews and air support were responding.

Evacuations were ordered for the area of Bill Owens Road to Schooner Gulch Road and Schooner Gulch Road to South Highway 1. The sheriff's tweet said the best evacuation route is east to Ten Mile Cutoff Road. 

Highway 1 is closed at Bill Owens Road and Schooner Gulch Road.  

At 6:45 p.m., Cal Fire tweeted that the incident, now called the Owens Fire, had grown to 30 acres and was 5% contained.

• Wildfire
• California Wildfires