Mosquito Fire: Man stays behind to feed deer and protect home from looters
PLACER COUNTY — The Mosquito Fire is still growing, and evacuees are more anxious to return home.
A small number of people inside the evacuation zone have refused to follow orders and have stayed.
Greg Heller is the loan person on Foresthill street. He is surrounded by wildlife.
"If you spend enough time with them, you become attached, and I just had to make sure," Heller said. "I see them in a panic mode you can read 'em."
He says he is staying not only to help feed the deer but also to protect his neighborhood from looters.
"Everybody else left; one guys gotta stay, right?" Heller said.
Placer County Sheriff's deputies are on round-the-clock patrols in the evacuation zone.
In the event of a wildfire flare-up near homes, deputies will drive streets with a high low siren. They would not knock on individual doors.
"That's the last thing I want to do is make their life difficult," Heller said.
Fire crews continued water drops on Wednesday, working to gain more containment, although they stressed containment is not the only factor in lifting evacuation orders.
Utility companies, law enforcement agencies, and firefighters are working together to decide when it's time to re-populate.
Some are waiting out the Mosquito Fire as evacuees; others have stayed in their evacuated neighborhoods, all alone.
"You know what, you just rely on your gut, and if your guts telling you roll, roll-get out of here," Heller said.
More than 11,000 people are currently under evacuation orders in Placer and El Dorado counties combined.
There is no timeline for when evacuations could be lifted.
