Crews in Yuba County battle Chute Fire again after overnight flareup reignites it

The Chute Fire that started in Yuba County July 13 continued to burn on Monday after an overnight flare-up.

Evacuation orders are in place for some areas of Yuba County. Cal Fire is urging people who live around there to follow the latest info from law enforcement, because conditions can change on a dime.

"At this point, the reignition is still under investigation as to where that actually occurred. But we have been continuously monitoring the fire by both the ground and in the air," said Nolan Hale, assistant chief with Cal Fire's Nevada Yuba Placer unit.

Hale says the remote, hard-to-access area is making things difficult. The fire is burning in a Yuba River drainage area that forms a sort of bowl, creating unpredictable wind patterns.

"That's what we saw today. Mother Nature is pretty cumbersome to us, especially with the steep terrain, the rocky terrain, along with the eddy winds. It's hard to predict, even with all of our spot weather forecasts. It does change hour to hour and minute to minute, but it's unpredictable. We face that every summer and we do our best," said Hale.

More than 300 people are on the ground fighting the Chute Fire, with at least four aircraft deployed.

"During fires like this, we do 100 percent mop up, where we have crews on the ground grid the entire landscape, search for hotspots. And then we'll have our drones with infrared technology fly and create heat maps," said Hale.

Cal Fire says multiple plans are in place to tackle this fire throughout the night. Several evacuation orders and warnings remain in place.

"Listen to the warnings as they come out from your local sheriff's office and know that Cal Fire is deploying every asset we have to contain this fire in a small footprint," said Hale.

The cause of the reignition is under investigation.