Wildfires scorch state
Jarrett LaShure struggles Saturday to improve containment of the Butte Fire hitting Amador and Calaveras counties. In Lake County, four firefighters suffered burns battling a blaze.
At 3 a.m. Thursday, Molly Molé was awakened by a banging on her front door.
A sheriff ’s deputy dressed in blue told her to pack up and get out of her home in Mokelumne Hill, that the fire was coming. Her husband was out of town, so she loaded their camper with a few precious belongings and put her horses and cats into a trailer.
“My whole neighborhood was evacuated and is right here,” she said at an RV park in the Amador County town of Plymouth, pointing to the vehicles next to her camper. “We’ve had people drive by our house to make sure it’s still safe. But it’s been a touchy and scary experience. When I heard that knock on the door, it felt surreal.”
The Butte Fire, a 100square-mile inferno, has prompted mandatory evacuations and a state of emergency in Amador and Calaveras counties. The fire has charred 65,000 acres, with firefighters having the blaze 15 percent contained as of Saturday evening. It has consumed 86 homes and 51 outbuildings.
The work was made tougher Saturday by a thick, choking blanket of smoke that kept the air tankers and helicopters grounded.
“The aircraft can’t see the ground right now, so we can’t bring the helicopters out,” said Mike Mohler, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “How soon we can fly will really depend on overnight weather patterns. We are hoping the wind will shift tomorrow, and we will be able to get the aircraft up.”
But there was a little light at the end of that smoky tunnel.
“It takes aircraft and boots on the ground to put the fire out; the aircraft is absolutely necessary for our efforts,” Mohler said. But when there’s so much smoke, “it holds the fire down and prevents it from growing as fast.”
‘I was frantic’
Large swaths of the counties were abandoned because of the swiftly moving blaze. The fire broke out Wednesday, and flames continue to threaten about 6,400 homes and buildings.
Strip malls sat empty, roads were barricaded and the windows of local businesses were incongruously dark. Smoke and soot choked the sky while ash floated down like snowflakes.
“We recommend anyone near the smoke, especially the children, to get out,” Mohler said. “The smoke makes it harder to breathe.”
Wilma Fortich of Pine Grove said she had never seen anything like it. She hastily evacuated her home Thursday morning, packing her favorite tin of Costa Rican coffee and some extra underwear. But a few things were forgotten. On Saturday, she wore a pair of gray Walmart shorts with the tag still attached.
“I was frantic, and I wasn’t able to grab everything I wanted,” she said. “Every once in a while I break down ... but what are you going to do? You can’t do a damn thing.”
Planning a potluck
Fortich said evacuees in the area were going to throw an alcohol-fueled potluck Saturday to distract themselves from the fire.
“Yeah, it’s tragic,” she said. “But we will be OK. This is the time for everyone to come together.”
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for the communities of Pine Grove in Amador County, and Mokelumne Hill, Glencoe, West Point and Wilseyville in Calaveras County. The towns of Angels Camp, San Andreas, Dorrington, Murphys and Forest Meadows are under an evacuation advisory.
Fire officials expanded the mandatory evacuations Saturday evening to include portions of San Andreas, including Pope Street, West Murray, Lewis Avenue, Miller Street, Wimbledon Drive, Forest Hill, Turner Court and along Mountain Ranch Road near Windmill.
In all, several thousand residents are subject to the evacuation orders and advisories. An evacuation center has been opened at the Jackson Rancheria Hotel, San Andreas Town Hall and the Calaveras County fairgrounds.
Cal Fire officials urged residents to be vigilant and ready to leave their homes in a hurry, because mandatory evacuations are expected to expand. They said the extreme fire behavior is caused by the critically dry conditions across the region.
Dick Shawkey and his wife, Jonnie, were evacuated from their home in Arnold. They are staying with their son, but spent time with other evacuees and their 4-year-old granddaughter, Emma, at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds.
“When they ask you to leave, you leave,” Dick Shawkey said. “They have a reason. People who don’t do what they’re asked cause huge problems. We aren’t too concerned about anything happening to our house, but it is tragic. It’s bad news for the state.”
At the Amador County Fairgrounds, where the firefighters are based, homemade signs were staked in the ground, thanking them for their service. “We love you,” said one poster, written in bubble letters with a green magic marker. “Thank you so, so, so much,” another said.
Sixty-seven fire crews with almost 3,300 firefighters are on scene, along with 383 fire engines, eight air tankers, 17 helicopters and 62 bulldozers, according to Cal Fire.
State park closed
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The fire also prompted the weekend closure of Big Trees State Park after officials issued an evacuation advisory for the park, known for its groves of giant sequoia trees.
Farther south, a wildfire in Fresno County is threatening another grove of sequoias. The huge 200-square-mile Rough Fire, which was ignited by a lightning strike July 31, forced a mandatory evacuation Thursday of Kings Canyon National Park, home of Grant Grove and its namesake, the towering, 268-foot-tall General Grant tree.
The Rough Fire had consumed nearly 128,800 acres by Saturday evening with containment at about 29 percent.