Raging Mosquito Fire jumps over American River; structures burn in Volcanoville
VOLCANOVILLE -- Winds from a massive pyrocumulus cloud, soaring thousands of feet and visible in some parts of the Bay Area, whipped the Mosquito Fire into a raging inferno, driving a wall of flames across the American River and into the small mountain community of Volcanoville.
The fire continues to burn out of control, scorching at least 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) and threatening 3,600 homes in Placer and El Dorado counties, while .
Flames jumped the American River, burning structures in the mountain hamlet of Volcanoville and moving closer to the towns of Foresthill, home to about 1,500 people, and Georgetown, population 3,000. Fire spokesperson Chris Vestal called the fast-moving blaze an "extreme and critical fire threat."
The fire's cause remained under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric notified the state Public Utilities Commission that the U.S. Forest Service placed caution tape around the base of a PG&E transmission pole but no damage could be seen. PG&E said unspecified "electrical activity" occurred close in time to the report of the fire on Sept. 6.
Cal Fire Placer County operations chief Nolan Hill told a community gathering Thursday night that the strong winds drove the flames thousands of acres in a matter of hours, leaping across the American River near the Oxbow Reservoir ignition point and into Volcanoville.
"It was every bit of 5,000 acres," Cal Fire Amador-Eldorado chief Mike Blankenheim told the gathering of concerned local residents of the wall of flames frightening advance. "It moved uphill and ran into Volcanoville. We did have some structures destroyed in there, but it's not the whole community by any stretch...The fire is pushing pretty hard."
Firefighters have taken up defensive positions around the towns of Foresthill, home to about 1,500 people, and Georgetown with a population of 3,000.
"The fire is burning in extremely difficult terrain including steep canyons where directly attacking the fire can be difficult," Cal Fire officials said in a news release.
Firefighters were also dealing with triple-digit temperatures and the uncertain weather conditions whipped up by the massive pyrocumulus cloud.
"It's developing this big pyro-cumulous cloud, almost like an explosion," says UC Davis professor Andrew Latimer. "Very little of the energy had to be evaporating water. Most of it could be combusting the plant materials and spreading the fire."
Weather conditions were not expected to improve Friday, which means the help from these local crews will be critical to protecting life and property.
"These extremely high temperatures can obviously be taxing on the body, especially for the firefighters when they're out working in these conditions," says Captain Robert Foxworthy with CalFire.
On Friday, operators of California's power grid issued another "Flex Alert" call for voluntary cuts in use of electricity between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., the hours when demand on the system is at its peak and solar generation is dropping off.
With record demand on power supplies across the West, California snapped its record energy use around 5 p.m. Tuesday with 52,061 megawatts, far above the previous high of 50,270 megawatts set July 24, 2006.
An emergency appeal for conservation that was sent to Californians' cellphones was credited with an immediate drop in demand on the electrical grid Tuesday evening. Up the West Coast, Oregon utilities began shutting down power to thousands of customers on Friday as dry easterly winds swept into the region, raising the risk of wildfire danger.
