A wind-driven wildfire tore through brush south of Covelo in Mendocino County yesterday, growing from roughly 80 acres to about 205 acres in under two hours and forcing the closure of Highway 162, the only paved route in and out of the valley. Fire crews say the blaze, first reported around 12:45 PM, is spreading at a dangerous rate and threatens numerous structures along a two-mile stretch of the highway.
According to The Press Democrat, authorities requested the closure of Highway 162 shortly after 1:15 PM, shutting the roadway down from the valley's entrance to the Covelo Fire Station. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation warning around 1:30 PM for zone MEN-1COV18-B, covering residents along Highway 162 between Watternberg Road and Fairbanks Lane, with the warning area extending east to Dobie Lane.
Air Tankers and a Cooling Center Deployed
CAL FIRE's Mendocino Unit established a unified command with the Covelo Fire Protection District yesterday, per The Mendocino Voice, while air tankers based at Ukiah Municipal Airport dropped retardant on the flames. As of late Wednesday afternoon, CAL FIRE listed the fire at zero percent containment, with dry grass and oak brush allowing it to spread rapidly. Local officials also opened a temporary evacuation point and cooling center at the Round Valley Indian Health Center on Biggar Lane in Covelo for displaced residents, per the agency.
The fire ignited during an intense regional heat wave, with temperatures in Covelo topping 100 degrees yesterday after the National Weather Service had forecast interior Mendocino County highs as high as 107 degrees, as reported by SFist. Triple-digit heat and low humidity have accelerated vegetation ignition across the region this week.
Second Major Fire to Hit the County in Under a Week
The Anderson Fire is the second major wildfire emergency to strike Mendocino County in less than a week. It follows the Feliz Fire near Hopland, which broke out on August 1 and rapidly burned over 870 acres, triggering emergency evacuations of its own. Back-to-back fires have stretched local initial-attack resources thin across the county.
Highway 162 is the only paved state highway connecting Round Valley and Covelo to Highway 101 at Longvale, according to the Mendocino Council of Governments, making any closure along the corridor a major vulnerability during emergency evacuations. Under CAL FIRE's Mendocino Unit 2025 Fire Plan, Battalion 1 maintains fuel break projects along Mina Road and Murphy Ridge down to Highway 162 meant to slow fire progression near Covelo. The Round Valley Indian Reservation also received a tribal wildfire resilience grant in 2023 to expand prescribed and cultural burning around Covelo, per the same fire plan.
A Corridor With a History of Fast-Moving Brush Fires
Covelo faced a similar threat just over a year ago, when the 263-acre Medicine Fire burned near Highway 162 in late July 2025, injuring three firefighters and triggering mandatory evacuations for 229 households, according to the same Mendocino Voice account of the region's fire history. That blaze underscored how quickly brush fires along the corridor can escalate during peak dry months.
In August 2020, the 200-acre Creek Fire erupted near Highway 162 and Short Creek Road in Covelo, destroying a structure before merging into a larger complex, according to Redheaded Blackbelt. That fire went on to become part of the August Complex, which burned over 1 million acres and stands as the largest wildfire complex in California history.
