It's February....

Wildfire near Bishop, Calif. triggers evacuations

Amy Graff

A wildfire that broke out near Bishop, Calif., and triggered evacuations on Wednesday afternoon, had spread to 2,800 acres and had no containment as of Thursday morning, Cal Fire said. 

Fanned by steady winds, the Airport Fire was active overnight, burning through a dry, parched landscape east of the Sierra Nevada Range. It's pushing toward the town of Big Pine. 

The blaze ignited near Eastern Sierra Regional Airport off Airport Road and East Line Street, in the Owens Valley, Cal Fire said. 

The fire is threatening two facilities that support environmental research and teaching: the CalTech Radio Observatory and UCLA's White Mountain Research Center. Both centers were evacuated. 

The town of Big Pine east of Highway 395 was also evacuated.

Bishop, population 3,800, is about 15 miles north of Big Pine, home to about 1,700 people in Inyo County.

There were no reports of injuries or damaged structures as of Wednesday night. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

There are more than 432 personnel fighting the fire.