Clearing skies elevate concern among firefighters battling Mosquito Fire
FORESTHILL -- Southwest winds pushed smoke and clouds from above the massive Mosquito Fire as it continued to burn in the drought-stricken timberlands of the Tahoe National Forest Tuesday, elevating concerns of an intensified battle with the wall of flames along the northeast edge of the 49,761-acre blaze.
Firefighters got a bit of a reprieve Monday as a combination of cloud cover and smoke slowed the fire's advance. As of early Tuesday, the 2,675 firefighters had achieved 18 percent containment.
"Fire activity minimal, work on the fire intense," Cal Fire night ops chief Don Fagule told the crews at the Tuesday morning briefing.
But the reprieve may be short-lived. Gusty breezes from the southwest began picking up in the predawn hours, clearing the skies and bringing with more oxygen to fuel the flames.
"It's not that it's a wind-driven fire, but the southwest flow is going to allow more air to come in," Cal Fire fire behaviorist Jonathon Pengburn told the crews.
In the blaze's path is an area of forest untouched by either the King Fire (fall of 2014) or the American Fire (August 2013) .
"There is a lot of fuel between the fire scars," Pengburn said. "You have the King Fire and the American Fire, in-between you have an island where you have unburned (forest) with no fire history... Plenty to burn."
Elsewhere, damage assessment teams in the area of Michigan Bluff, Foresthill and Volcanoville have found at least 46 structures that have been consumed by flames. In all, the blaze is threatening 5,484 structures.
Along Michigan Bluff Road the flames destroyed at least a half dozen homes and damaging others.
"We watched it go from the river to the ridge over there in Volcano in about 20 minutes," said Johnny Worton. "The flames were gargantuan."
Across El Dorado and Placer counties, 11,260 people were evacuted.
"With the continued threat of fire, damaged infrastructure, and large amounts of firefighting equipment in the area, it is currently unsafe for the public to be in the fire area," fire officials said Tuesday.
Jonathan Richards, a church pastor, told the San Francisco Chronicle he moved to Georgetown a year and a half ago aware that wildfires had charred mountain communities, but didn't want to think about it happening when he got the dreaded evacuation message this week. He took his two dogs and a cat but said he left behind nine chickens because he didn't have a way to transport them.
"You never dream that it'll find your little area of paradise," he said.
The Mosquito Fire's cause remained under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric said unspecified "electrical activity" occurred close in time to the report of the fire on Tuesday.
