By Debbie Arrington
A brush fire that consumed more than 400 acres along the Yuba River near Smartsville in Yuba County should be near full containment Monday morning.
More than 175 firefighters battled the smoky blaze Sunday, using a helicopter and three water tenders, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. By late afternoon, the fire was 60 percent contained, and attention was turned to mopping up unburned islands of fuel within its perimeter.
"We're making good progress," he said. "The burning operation put quite a lot of smoke out. We didn't want to leave anything within the perimeter that could still burn."
Called the Krista Fire, the blaze started with a downed power line at about 4 p.m. Saturday. Wind spread the flames over grassland and brush on property belonging to the University of California Field Research Station.
With smoke that could be seen for miles on Highway 20 east of Marysville, the blaze burned up a steep hillside north of the Yuba River near Sicard Flat Road.
"It burned all the way down to the river and back up," Berlant said. "It stopped at the ridge line."
No homes were threatened and no buildings burned, he added.
On steep terrain, crews from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as well as the Smartsville, Penn Valley and Foothill fire departments worked through Saturday night and Sunday. Full containment is expected by 8 a.m. Monday, officials said.
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