Crews battle for 3rd day to outflank Northern California wildfire

A fierce wildfire that has forced the closure of an interstate highway in Northern California raged for a third day on Friday through explosively dry mountain timber in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, as crews battled to outflank the flames. The Delta Fire has scorched nearly 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) in the Cascade range since erupting on Wednesday in a forest canyon along the Sacramento River, about 250 miles (402 km) north of San Francisco, fire officials said. The underbrush is being removed with a combination of bulldozers and hand tools, as well as controlled burning operations, said Captain Brandon Vaccaro, a spokesman for the Delta fire incident command.