Camp Fire: Sierra Nevada Brewing evacuates employees out of 'an abundance of caution'

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico has voluntarily evacuated their Chico, Calif. brewery Friday as wildfires rage through Northern California. The decision was made out of "an abundance of caution," company spokesperson Robin Gregory explains.

The brewery is not currently in an evacuation zone, but many employees do live in areas threatened by flames, as the Camp Fire rages through the outskirts of Chico after devastating the town of Paradise.

"At the Chico facility we have just over 500 employees," Gregory says. "Most of the employees live in the Chico area but quite a few live in Paradise and in other areas that were more severely impacted. We also have a number of Chico employees who were evacuated last night and this morning too."

Despite not being in an evacuated area, the smoke is heavy near the brewery; Gregory notes that "it looks like it's evening."

The company's second production brewery, in North Carolina, is able to pick up the Chico brewery's production if needed, but Sierra Nevada is confident that operations will resume "shortly."

Its stock of barrel-aged beers — which can be badly affected by smoke damage — are not of concern either. "Most of our barrels that do have beer are at a separate enclosed facility warehouse across town," she says. "It's in a closed warehouse so the barrels aren't a great concern at the moment."

Fires continue in Northern California in Butte County. Flames grew substantially overnight, reaching 70,000 acres by Friday morning. More than 52,000 people have been evacuated from the Paradise area.

Follow SFGATE's fire coverage here. 

Ted Andersen contributed to this story.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.