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Evacuation advisory for California town lifted

Donna Garner, right, embraces former employee Napua Gonsales-Merck while they shift through the remains of the Fireside Village, a restaurant and shop owned by the Garners for over 30 years, in the aftermath of the Eiler Fire on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, in Hat Creek, Calif. Light rain and higher humidity are helping crews make progress in their fight against two wildfires in the Northern California forest that are just miles apart. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Donna Garner, right, embraces former employee Napua Gonsales-Merck while they shift through the remains of the Fireside Village, a restaurant and shop owned by the Garners for over 30 years, in the aftermath of the Eiler Fire on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, in Hat Creek, Calif. Light rain and higher humidity are helping crews make progress in their fight against two wildfires in the Northern California forest that are just miles apart. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By Associated Press August 6, 2014 1 min read

BURNEY, Calif. (AP) – A rural Northern California town that was under threat from a wildfire is in the clear for now.

Fire officials on Tuesday lifted an evacuation advisory for the Shasta County town of Burney, which has a population of about 3,000 people. State fire spokesman Tom Piranio says another 2,000 or so people in nearby communities who were under mandatory evacuation orders were allowed to return home.

Piranio says higher humidity and rain have helped knock down the fire. Crews also built a protective fire line about 6 miles long just southeast of Burney.

The Eiler Fire has burned through more than 48 square miles in and around the Lassen National Forest. It did not grow overnight and was 35 percent contained.

Mandatory evacuation orders for another, larger fire in the forest were also lifted on Tuesday.