SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ A fire burning Thursday in the bushy, dry vegetation east of Redding has prompted the evacuation of the local community college and outlying neighborhoods.
The Mountain Fire started near Bear Mountain Road and Dry Creek Road, north of the unincorporated town of Bella Vista.
At 1:30 p.m., Cal Fire reported the fire was 300 acres with zero containment.
The Shasta County Sheriff's Office reported that numerous rural neighborhoods were under mandatory evacuations east of Redding.
Shasta College posted on social media that the campus also was under an evacuation order, prompting an emergency evacuation shelter that had been set up there move to Crosspointe Community Church in Redding.
The area east of Redding has burned several times over the last couple of decades.
The largest fires were the 1992 Fountain Fire, which burned 636 buildings, and the Jones Fire in October 1999, which burned 954 buildings and killed one person.
Smaller fires burn through that part of Shasta County nearly every summer and fall.
Shasta County remains on edge after last summer's devastating Carr Fire, which burned western Redding and outlying communities.
The Carr Fire, which ignited July 23, 2018, burned more than 1,000 homes. Eight people died, including two children and three firefighters.
The Carr Fire was caused by a vehicle with a flat tire at the intersection of Highway 299 and Carr Powerhouse Road west of Redding.
