Putah Fire near Winters burns hundreds of acres along Highway 128

The Putah Fire near Winters, which has burned hundreds of acres, began as a control burn on Monday, Cal Fire confirmed to CBS News Sacramento.

Named after the nearby Putah Creek, it is burning off Highway 128 west of Winters and began just after 11:30 a.m. Jason Clay with Cal Fire said crews were doing a prescribed burn in the area when winds increased and pushed the flames past the established control lines.

Firefighters then switched into attacking the blaze and adjusted their on-scene resources to work on containment, Clay said. The area where the fire is burning is steep and rugged, which is causing challenges for fire crews on the ground. Smoke on the eastern side is also causing an issue for flight crews trying to make retardant drops, Clay said.

He added that the fire is putting some power transmission infrastructure at risk.  

Cal Fire said the flames were moving uphill through light, flashy fuels, and that by 2:30 p.m., the blaze had burned about 300 acres. In an update just after 4 p.m., Cal Fire's incident page stated the blaze had burned 361 acres. 

Crews reached 15% containment before 6 p.m, according to Cal Fire.

About 200 firefighters were at the scene, alongside 10 fire engines and multiple air tankers. A pair of night-flying capable helicopters was also requested to continue the operations at night.

Up-to-date information on the fire can be found on Cal Fire's incident page; Cal Fire issued evacuation warnings for Zones YCU-197, YCU-293 and YCU-291 just after 9 p.m.