2 mobile homes destroyed in Bonanza Fire near Shingle Springs in El Dorado County
Two mobile homes were destroyed in a fire that erupted in El Dorado County near Shingle Springs on Tuesday and forced mandatory evacuations.
The fire burned in the area of Old French Town Road at Bonanza Auto Road, east of Shingle Springs and south of Kingsville.
As of Thursday, Cal Fire says about 181 acres have burned with 75% containment in what is being called the Bonanza Fire.
Officials said the forward progress of the fire was stopped Tuesday evening. The flames had been spreading both east and south at a moderate rate.
Cal Fire said two single-wide mobile homes and an outbuilding were destroyed. A utility structure was damaged.
Multiple vehicles at Bonanza Auto Dismantlers were involved in the fire. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Evacuation order and road closures
The last of the mandatory evacuation orders remained in place from Chablis Drive east to Highway 49, north to where Kingvale Court meets Kingvale Drive and south to China Hill Road at Bumper Road, through early Wednesday morning.
That order, along with all other evacuation orders, warnings and road closures, was lifted by late Wednesday morning.
Evacuees return home
Sherri Kerth, who lives in the area, described the fear she felt when the flames were moving toward her home.
"A huge adrenaline rush, and your limbs feel weak and your heart is racing, and when I could hear the flames crackling and I could see them right up over the ridge here, I am like, 'OK, I am out of here,' " she said.
She rushed out of the door with her dog just as an aircraft dropped fire retardant nearby.
"It missed us this time, which is great," Kerth said.
Kerth praised the efforts of firefighters, which allowed her to return home on Wednesday.
"Cal Fire is amazing, like a military operation. They were all around," she said.
Two brothers, Tavin and Cyrus Dacanay, were on a family camping trip when the fire broke out. When they returned home, they were thankful to find their property was pink, not black.
However, they are no strangers to fire.
"It's not the first time, actually. This burned down just five years ago," Tavin Dacanay said.
The hard work put in by residents in the area to create defensible space around their homes during the spring paid off.
"It's just really going down there with chainsaws and cutting back the brush and keeping it more away from the house," Cyrus Dacanay said of the work they put in to protect their home.
