Mosquito Fire calms some, but 11,000 remain evacuated from Northern California foothills
Activity on the Mosquito Fire grew less extreme over the weekend, but the sprawling wildfire continues to displace more than 11,000 residents of Placer and El Dorado counties as it burns in the foothills east of Sacramento.
The fire, which began last Tuesday evening along Mosquito Road near Oxbow Reservoir in Placer County, is now 48,700 acres (76 square miles) with 16% containment, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service said in a Monday evening incident update.
Nearly 6,000 structures are threatened, most of them homes, and 11,260 people are under evacuation orders, officials said.
Authorities last week ordered mandatory evacuations including the towns of Foresthill, Georgetown, Todd Valley, Quintette and Volcanoville. All of those orders remained in place as of Monday morning, according to the Placer County and El Dorado County sheriff’s offices.
The blaze spread toward the north and the east over the weekend, fire officials said in a 7 a.m. incident report. While cooler temperatures helped moderate fire behavior that Cal Fire and the Forest Service had labeled “extreme” throughout last week, the fire continues to be driven by “historically dry fuel moisture” amid California’s drought.
Fire activity could increase by early Monday afternoon due to southwesterly winds, which have also helped clear out smoke from the immediate Sacramento area. Air quality remained poor in the foothills Monday morning, including near Auburn, Foresthill, Placerville and Pollock Pines, according to an air quality map from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The air is “very unhealthy” near South Lake Tahoe and into western Nevada, including the Carson City area, due to Mosquito Fire smoke.
Crews succeeded over the weekend in building containment lines on the southern edge of the fire, near Volcanoville and Quintette. The fire on Thursday jumped the Middle Fork of the American River, sending flames into those two El Dorado County communities and destroying some homes.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said one of its deputies helped to rescue an elderly couple and their two dogs from a residence on Volcanoville Road, who were unable to evacuate on their own because their vehicle was disabled.
The Sheriff’s Office on Sunday posted video from the rescue, showing a sheriff’s vehicle driving on a dirt road as flames and smoke can be seen on both sides.
“Everyone and the dogs are safe thanks to our deputy,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a social media post.
The cause of the Mosquito Fire remains under investigation by Cal Fire and the Forest Service. PG&E Corp. filed a report to state utility regulators last week saying investigators “placed caution tape” around a PG&E transmission pole near Oxbow Reservoir, where the fire started. The utility company said it hadn’t observed “damage or abnormal conditions” on that pole.
Updates on other wildfires
▪ The Mill Fire, burning near Weed in Siskiyou County since Sept. 2, has burned 3,935 acres (6.1 square miles) and is 95% contained as of Monday morning. Fire growth has been minimal for days, and crews continue to mop up as they near full containment. All remaining evacuations were lifted Monday, Cal Fire said. Two civilians were killed in the blaze.
▪ The Mountain Fire, burning east of Gazelle in Siskiyou County, has charred 13,254 acres (20.7 square miles) since starting Sept. 2 several miles west of the Mill Fire. It was 60% contained, firefighters said in a Monday morning update. Seventy-five people remain under evacuation orders.
▪ The Fairview Fire, which has torched 28,307 acres (44.2 square miles) in six days in Riverside County, is 53% contained. The remnants of Hurricane Kay helped firefighters. Parts of the fire experienced “flash flood warnings with debris flow,” but the rains “produced a night with excellent humidity recoveries on the fire,” Cal Fire wrote in a Monday morning update. The fire has killed two people, injured one and destroyed at least 21 structures, as well as more than a dozen outbuildings.
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Mosquito Fire calms some, but 11,000 remain evacuated from Northern California foothills."
