The aftermath
At least six structures destroyed by Thursday’s Washington Fire
Some people who first saw the start of the blaze that came to be called the Washington Fire said it was a nice, clear day Thursday before they saw a small fire next to Highway 108 near the turnoff for Golf Links Road.
“I was coming back from lunch with some friends at Pete’s,” said Richard “Dick” Pland, 91, who lives with his wife Audrey Pland, 89, on Mckibbon Drive close to Golden Dove Lane. “It was about 1:15 p.m. I was coming down 108. Just at Golf Links there was a little spot fire next to the highway. It was next to the pavement and eight to 10 feet above the highway.”
Some people had their vehicles stopped, and Richard Pland kept going, thinking the small fire could easily be extinguished. Instead, the small fire blew up in dry vegetation, spreading and leaping up the steep hill above Golf Links nearly as fast as Pland made it to his home.
“At most in five minutes I’m here and it exploded,” Richard Pland said Friday. “It was right across the road from our house. All that fuel. Down below here there was a mobile home and a traveler trailer and they were engulfed in flames. It was so hot, flames were going straight up.”
“It was like a wall of flames,” Audrey Pland said. “The fire
fighters saved us.”
Les Dean, 66, who lives with his wife Mary Dean, 51, on Circle Drive above Golf Links, also said it was a relatively fine, clear day before he got word of the fire.
“My son called from traffic on Highway 108, he got stopped by the law,” Les Dean, 66, who lives with his wife, Mary Dean, 51, on Circle Drive above Golf Links. “He yelled, ‘Dad! Go the (expletive) outside! Your house is almost on fire!’
“I went out and couldn’t even see the road for the smoke and flames. Those trees right there exploded. They went ‘pop!’ And all the leaves went up. The flames were 30 feet above the trees. Then the phone lines melted and came down.”
As that first little fire grew into a hill-climbing, smokestack-generating monster, it threw off embers that carried the fire further uphill and to the east, across Stockton Road. Both incident commanders for the Washington Fire, City of Sonora Fire Chief Aimee New, and Tuolumne County Fire Assistant Chief Andy Murphy, said Friday the second fire that started near the end of Southgate Drive was a spot fire from the original fire.
Whatever caused the initial start of the Washington Fire remained under investigation, New and Murphy said.
Up on Golden Dove Lane, Cal Fire personnel were assigned to structure damage assessment. From Mckibbon Drive up Golden Dove to the top of the hill, it appeared before noon Friday that at least nine homes, mobile homes, and other structures survived the fire. At least six structures were burned to the ground. Most of those destroyed appeared to be mobile homes, trailers, or garages.
Engine crews, two dozers, and a water tank truck were stationed up along Golden Dove before noon Friday. Curls of smoke rose from the blackened slopes and from the silent ruins of places where people used to live. The toxic stench of burned metals, plastics, and other synthetic materials used in building homes, motorhomes and travel trailers was particularly strong in steep draws that burned the hottest Thursday.
Workers with AT&T based in Sonora were high on Golden Dove surveying damaged lines and sizing up what their day would look like. Around a corner in the road, a burnedout Volkswagen and a burned-out Volvo stood at the entrance to another property where a structure that looked like a home had also burned.
The Plands and the Deans were among the lucky ones. Their homes survived the Washington Fire, and the contrast between their places and the places that burned to the ground was stark because they were so close to each other.
Audrey Pland remembered she was sweeping in the backyard before the fire started. It had been “terribly hot weather” in the weeks before, and Thursday it was around 90, which felt cool and pleasant, she said
Minutes later their home was surrounded by flames, and the first firefighters on scene were Cal Fire, then Tuolumne County Fire, then Los Angeles County Fire and West Covina Fire.
“They were here, two or three engines at a time, then seven or eight en
gines at a time,” Richard Pland said.
It seemed like 20 different engine crews came and went over the course of the fire, Audrey Pland said.
Tuolumne County sheriff’s deputies came to tell the Plands to evacuate. They said no, they were going to stay as long as they could. They wanted to hang in there. The flames were vry close, right across the road.
“We are so grateful we still have a home,” Audrey Pland said. “They, Cal Fire, they stayed all night in the bottom of our driveway.”
Les Dean said he worked with garden hoses and what he had to try to keep flames away from his place. But he insisted Friday he didn’t save his house. His house might not have burned even if he hadn’t been home. He said he was grateful for help he got Thursday from a sheriff’s deputy. Even though he refused to evacuate, the deputy helped him out, and put a hose on his burning fence. On Friday, the same sheriff’s deputy brought the Deans five gallons of gas for their generator.
Power was restored for many Jamestown and Sonora residents who lost electricity during the fire Friday. The Deans and the Plands remained without power Friday.
“We’re just sitting here in the dark,” Audrey Pland said before 1 p.m. “But our house is still standing.”
Evacuation and road closure changes for the Washington Fire were updated at 10:45 a.m. Friday. Remaining under evacuation orders were residents of North Drive; Golf Links Road between Highway 108 and Chabroullian; Mckibbin Drive; Constance Lane; Mountain Vista Court; Circle Drive; Alley Drive; Golden Dove Lane; Silver Pine Drive; and Southgate Drive where the pavement ends.
Evacuation warnings remained in place within a mile of the evacuation order zone. Highway 108 was open in both directions. Chabroullian Lane from Highway 108 to Golf Links Road was open. Stockton Road was closed between Highway 108 and Foothills Café. Southgate Road was to remain closed beyond the Tuolumne Utilities District gate. Golf Links Road was to remain closed from Jamestown Road to Highway 108.