An evacuation order was issued for residents along Highway 6, north of Bishop, as the Silver Fire exceeded 1,000 acres.
The map above shows the evacuation area in red. For latest updates, see the Inyo County emergency website or the sheriff’s Facebook page.
The wildfire — which some agencies called the Laws Fire — was reported around 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30, near the highway bridge over the Owens River, and evacuation orders were issued before 4 p.m.
As of Monday morning, the fire had burned 1,250 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
A high-wind warning was issued by the National Weather Service through 9 p.m. Monday, with a forecast of southwest winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts up to 65 mph.
The Highway 395 corridor, on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, has seen notable early-season fires in recent years. Last year, the Cartago Fire in the first week of April closed the highway near Olancha; in 2022, the Airport Fire, which started on Feb. 16 in Bishop, burned more than 4,000 acres.