Road fire forces closure of Highway 41 near Coarsegold

A fire forced the closure of a section of Highway 41 near Coarsegold on Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.

There were three separate fires reported on the side of the road around 5 p.m. near Highway 41 and North Fork Road.

Cal Fire requested CHP to direct traffic while they dealt with the fire, but both sides of the highway had to be closed.

Southbound traffic was diverted back to Oakhurst to take an alternate route, the CHP said.

Just after 6 p.m., both directions of traffic started being released from the roadblock.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Road fire forces closure of Highway 41 near Coarsegold."