Mosquito Fire in California grows to 100 square miles

California crews continued battling the state’s largest wildfire of 2022 on Thursday despite a setback in containment levels.

The Mosquito Fire ignited Sept. 6 and ballooned to just over 100 square miles Thursday in Placer and El Dorado counties. The massive blaze surpassed the size of the McKinney Fire that burned more than 93 square miles in California in July and August.

The growing blaze, fueled by critically dry vegetation, put 9,200 structures at risk as of Thursday, Cal Fire reported. So far, it’s destroyed 70 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Thousands have been ordered or warned to evacuate as the fire burned east of Foresthill, California.

One firefighter has been injured with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Cal Fire information officer Scott McLean.

What areas were evacuated?

Cal Fire reported more than 11,000 were evacuated from communities in

Placer County, including Michigan Bluff, downtown Foresthill and Todd Valley; as well as Volcanoville, Canyon Creek and Bald Mountain in El Dorado County.

Is the Mosquito Fire contained?

Approximately 3,600 firefighters were working the Mosquito Fire by Thursday, McLean said. The fire’s containment dropped to 20% Wednesday as its size increased by more than 12 square miles in the Foresthill area.

“The fire made some significant runs, so it increased in size and they ended up stretching the line out a little bit farther, so the containment went down accordingly,” McLean said. “It’s something that definitely can happen, especially the last few years with such volatility of the vegetation,” he said.

Crews were running burning operations to remove fuel from the front of the fire, but the fire is expected to burn into the Eldorado and Tahoe National Forests, McLean said.

“There are a lot of efforts, a lot of heavy equipment, a lot of personnel out ahead of it on the east side,” he told USA TODAY.