Right along California State Route 49 at the Sierra-Plumas County line, you can see where the Elephant Fire started and ignited brush.
To date, the battle against the blaze is all hands on deck.
"More than 400 people are involved with this effort, so we're fighting it from the ground and from the air and just using all the resources that we have available to us," said Chris Buckley, the Public Information Officer for the Elephant Fire.
Crews from as far as Weber County, Utah, have joined the fight. The Reno Fire Department and Storey County Fire District have also sent crews to battle the fire.
Other assisting agencies include the Loyalton Fire Department, Cal Fire, Tabiona Fire, Sierra County Fire Protection District, and Mount Charleston Fire & Rescue.
Even with the fire in sight and evacuation warnings in the town's backyard, residents in the small town of Chilcoot aren't concerned.
"They put a good fire line around it with the cats last night on the Chilcoot side," says Vicki Anderson, "so it should be pretty well getting to mop up now."
Anderson has lived here all her life and has seen plenty of fires. In 2020, she watched the Loyalton Fire rip through this same area.
If it weren't for that, she says the Elephant Fire would be a lot worse.
"This one here was not as hot because ... everything was virgin. You know, it hadn't been burned and logged or anything," she says. "So, you had a lot of dead timber, a lot of heavy brush and stuff. So when that fire went through, it took a lot of that out."
Even with everyone and their mother fighting this fire, they still need the community's cooperation. Especially from drone pilots.
"Let's be very clear about this," Buckley said. "When you fly, we can't. There's been some instances of drones already on this fire in the vicinity, and all that does is it holds firefighting operations, and it slows us putting this fire out"
The Elephant Fire has prompted an evacuation alert in Lassen County, south of State Route 70 and west of U.S. 395. Evacuation warnings are in effect across the region. If you live nearby, now's the time to prepare.
"Think about, you know, what to pack to bring," Buckley said. "Think about your pets. A lot of people forget that their pets have needs too. So just be kind of ready to go before it becomes too late."
