MP18 Fire Grows to 300 Acres Near Hoopa, Shuts Down Highway 96 for the Weekend

The MP18 Fire ignited Friday around 4:30 p.m. north of Hoopa, between Hoopa and Weitchpec, according to Lost Coast Outpost. Cal Fire says it grew fast overnight and had burned 300 acres as of Saturday morning.

Highway 96 is closed in both directions between postmiles 15.5 and 19.5, according to Caltrans. The California Post reports Caltrans expects the closure to last through all of Saturday, with a reassessment planned for Sunday morning. Drivers in the area should plan on the highway staying shut for at least another full day.

Power is out in the affected area, according to Lost Coast Outpost, though neither source specifies how many customers are affected or which utility is responding. Humboldt County has placed a large portion of the Hoopa Valley reservation, the section east of the Trinity River, under an evacuation warning, the lowest of the county's alert levels. That means residents should be ready to leave, not that they've been ordered to.

Firefighters got aircraft on the blaze almost immediately. Two helicopters and an air tanker worked the fire Friday night, according to the New York Post, with more firefighters and aircraft expected to join Saturday. Cal Fire is maintaining an incident page with updates, and the Hoopa Office of Emergency Services Facebook page is posting frequent local updates.

Weather is working against the crews. The New York Post reports a heat advisory is in effect for interior Humboldt County, with highs expected between 100 and 105 degrees. Lost Coast Outpost put Saturday's forecast for Hoopa itself at up to 104 degrees. Heat like that dries out fuel, stresses firefighters, and can help a fire keep pushing even after air support arrives.

Smoke has become its own hazard separate from the flames. Air-quality sensors along the Highway 96 corridor near Hoopa were registering unhealthy readings Saturday morning, according to the New York Post. Anyone with respiratory issues in the corridor should be limiting outdoor exposure regardless of whether they're inside the evacuation warning zone.

The fire's cause has not been determined in either report, and no acreage containment percentage has been released by Cal Fire. That's normal this early in an incident, but it means residents shouldn't expect a clear timeline yet for when the highway reopens or the evacuation warning lifts.

Both outlets agree on the core numbers: 300 acres, a Friday evening start, and a Highway 96 closure between the same two postmiles. Neither source reports any injuries or structure losses so far, and neither has a statement yet from Hoopa tribal leadership beyond the OES page cited by Lost Coast Outpost.

The next concrete checkpoint is Sunday morning, when Caltrans is scheduled to reassess whether Highway 96 can reopen. Until then, Cal Fire's incident page and the Hoopa OES Facebook page remain the primary sources residents are being pointed to for updates on containment, additional evacuation orders, and when power might be restored.