Rain Halts Mosquito Fire Acreage Growth
Placer County, CA – The recent rains in the area of the Mosquito Fire footprint have kept the flames from spreading and are helping ground crews gain containment.
The blaze, burning near the Oxbow Reservoir, is currently holding steady at 76,290 acres. The containment grew overnight from 39% to 49%. Incident Command noted that the continued rain showers along with colder temperatures kept fire activity to a minimum overnight. They updated, “On Tuesday, firefighters took advantage of the breaks in the storm to construct and secure various sections of control line on the eastern flank of the fire. With the minimized fire activity, crews have been able to build direct control line along the fire’s edge without the concerns of the dangerous and explosive fire behavior experienced in the initial days of this fire.”
One area where the rainfall did not help was accessing the fire line down in the river drainages. Incident Command detailed that it “remains a difficult and challenging operation, especially with approximately 2.50 inches of rain falling over the fire in the past several days.”
The fire has destroyed 78 structures and damaged another 13, with 111 more threatened. To date, 42 people remain evacuated. There are a total of 2,437 firefighters working the blaze.
