Kearney Fire drives Nevada County officials to issue evacuation order
A fast moving wildfire sparked evacuation orders in Nevada County on Tuesday afternoon as officials called for a large response from state and local firefighting agencies, including a request for a large air tanker.
The blaze, named the Kearney Fire, was near Smartsville in the area of Kearney Court, which is south of Highway 20, according to the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services. Officials ordered the evacuations of residents of two zones in the area: Zone NCO-E010 and Zone NCO-E011, both of which are south of Highway 20 and near the Yuba County line. Authorities issued an evacuation warning for two zones north of the highway, as well as a third zone south of the highway but to the east of where evacuation orders were in place.
On emergency dispatch channels, officials also requested the assistance of California Highway Patrol as the fire was moving quickly in the direction of the highway.
Firefighters first responded to the fire around 4 p.m., and quickly reported that it was moving at a dangerous rate and had sparked multiple spot fires, according to the wildfire tracking service Watch Duty. Cal Fire’s online map tracking ongoing incidents showed multiple aircraft responding to the fire.
As of 4:45 P.M., the fire had spread over 35 acres and continued growing quickly with multiple spot fires.
Officials established an evacuation center at the Penn Valley Library, at 11240 Pleasant Valley Road, according to the evacuation map website Genasys.
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM.
