PG&E Probed for Causing Massive, Destructive CA Mosquito Fire

Michaela Harris

Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.

(TNS)

Oct. 6—After nearly a month of activity, CalFire officials reported that the Mosquito Fire affecting El Dorado and Placer counties is 95% contained as of Wednesday. In order to stop its spread, CalFire called upon unified command from fire departments in neighboring regions to fight the fire including personnel from Yuba City Fire Department.

Yuba City Fire Captain Matt Johnson was one of several local firefighters deployed to the scene after the fire jumped the American River burning its way toward Volcanoville in El Dorado County. The team responded as part of an Office of Emergency Services strike team which enables a responsible jurisdiction to assign teams to different stations of an active emergency.

In order to respond to incidents like the Mosquito Fire, the Yuba City Fire Department has been issued one Type 1 fire engine to aid in structure defense, Johnson said.

Yuba City Fire personnel were on site and stationed in @TheGrounds, an event center in Roseville which served as a CalFire base camp, for eight consecutive days. Personnel members worked a series of four 24-hour shifts during this time, Johnson said.

The majority of these shifts were spent near the southern edge of the fire in El Dorado County. Johnson called the first several days of work in this station "uneventful" before his team was reassigned to the northern side of the fire.

The reassignment put the team near the area where the fire jumped the American River a second time back to an area that threatened Foresthill in Placer County.

"That was really the day that we put the most work in, and that was establishing structure defense and the Todd Valley area and working on protecting homes in the flank of the fire," Johnson said.

Overall, Johnson said that Yuba City Fire's assistance with the Mosquito Fire was reserved to more controlled areas and focused on building contingency lines in order to increase the chances of containment and avoid further spread.

According to CalFire officials, the Mosquito Fire was detected on the evening of Sept. 6 near Mosquito Ridge Road in Foresthill. As of Tuesday, the fire had burned over 76,000 acres in the area. Numerous evacuation orders and warnings were placed for surrounding communities, but have since been lifted as of Sept. 21, officials said.

No deaths related to the fire have been reported, but 78 structures were destroyed while 13 others were damaged.

According to incident activity projections, officials said that within the next 24 hours "heavier fuels with remaining heat" will have potential to rekindle and create flare ups, but fire growth will be minimal.

Johnson said that the fire is still burning on the eastern edge of Foresthill with increasing containment and does not believe there will be any more threats to structures in the area.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the Sacramento Bee reported that the U.S. Forest Service has started a criminal investigation into the cause of the Mosquito Fire and seized equipment belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

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