Lyons Fire Fully Contained

The wildfire at Lyons reservoir has been contained at 20 acres Wednesday evening, and fire crews expect to be on the scene through the night.

Residents in the vicinity can expect to see some residual smoke for about a week. There were 200 firefighters on the line late Wednesday evening. Overnight crews will be putting out small fires within the containment area.

Fire officials at Lyons Dam command center Wednesday night credit the four air tankers and four helicopters in helping block the spread of the flames while ground crews made their way into the remote location.

Two U.S. Forest Service Hot Shot crews and four CDF inmate crews worked into the night along with firefighters from Tuolumne County, CDF and the Forest Service cutting lines around the fire and hosing down flames.

Fire officials announced full containment of the fire at 8:06 p.m.

The sight of smoke, air tankers and helicopters caused some anxious moments for area residents.

Middle Camp Road resident Doug Kohl watched the firefighting effort from his deck Wednesday evening and described what he saw.

“There´s lots of smoke and flames flipping up on top of it as the fire crests the ridge,” he said. “The helicopter bombers are hitting it. It looks like they are dipping out of Lyons Lake and getting water. It´s fortunate they have water right at Lyons Lake.”

One US Forest Service helicopter crewmember was taken to Sonora Community Hospital for treatment of a minor injury, otherwise no one was hurt and there was no threat to any homes or property.

At least 100 firefighters will be on the fire lines Thursday mopping up. Cause of the fire is undetermined at this point.