California's French Gulch Fire Burns 9,600 Acres, 25 Percent Contained
FRENCH GULCH, Calif. (AP) -- A northern California wildfire that destroyed 22 homes and two businesses in this historic gold mining town grew to 9,600 acres Tuesday morning while firefighting costs rose to $3.5 million, firefighters said.
Officials reported the fire approximately 140 miles northwest of Sacramento was 25 percent contained, with full containment expected by 6 p.m. Friday.
Residents evacuated from French Gulch on Saturday were also expected to return to town at 1 p.m. Tuesday, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Louis Haynes. He said utility crews expected to have restored electricity and telephone service before residents arrive.
Saturday, two walls of flame roared through the town of 150 homes, destroying one-sixth of its buildings. Firefighters managed to save an 1885-era hotel on the National Register of Historic Places, a school and the post office.
Haynes said the fire continues to burn into a heavily forested area with no homes.
``There are no structures in its path,'' he said.
Haynes said firefighters have not yet determined a cause for the Shasta County fire, which has cost $3.5 million to fight. The blaze has attracted 2,778 firefighters with 223 engines, 41 helicopters and 45 water tankers.
Haynes reported two minor injuries to firefighters.
The French Gulch fire followed an even more devastating Shasta County fire days earlier that blackened nearly 11,000 acres and destroyed 80 homes, 30 outbuildings and 10 vehicles. That fire began when a lawnmower struck a rock in dry grass.
The French Gulch fire was one of two burning in California on Tuesday. Nearly 2,000 firefighters had largely contained a fire in Tulare County and were beginning to demobilize, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Karen Terrill.
``The weather has cooperated a bit, and we've had some really good firefighting. With a combination of those two things, we've made very good progress,'' Terrill said.
She said new weather forecasts Tuesday also indicated that a potential for lightning strikes will largely be restricted to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
``We are in process now of trying to rest some firefighters. We're in good shape for resources,'' she said.
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