CDF firefighters battle Smartsville fire,
could take until Wednesday to contain
Sac Bee excloo
SMARTSVILLE 6/10/02 (YSN) - Firefighters from as far away as Mariposa and Redding continued to battle an 1,100-acre wildfire that forced 200 people to evacuate the Mooney Flat Road area, a California Department of Forestry spokesman said.
Some 520 firefighters using 90-plus pieces of equipment, including four helicopters, brought the so-called "Field" fire within 50 percent containment by mid-day Monday. Full containment was expected by Tuesday morning.
Mooney Flat residents were ordered out of the area about 3 p.m. Sunday after sparks jumped the south fork of the Yuba River and touched off small, but worrisome blazes that threatened as many as 150 homes, Napa CDF Battalion Chief David Shrew said.
But fire crews soon quelled the isolated fire patches and the homeowners were allowed to return about 10:45 p.m. that night, Shew said.
The view of the Yuba foothills from Blue Gravel Street in tiny Smartsville, population 389, showed the fire came no closer than a quarter of a mile, store clerk Denita Patton said..
No property damage and only one minor firefighter injury has been reported so far, Shew said.
"We are projecting full containment by about 6 a.m. Tuesday, but we'll stay in the area probably until Wednesday to monitor it, just in case," Shew said.
The "Field" fire - so dubbed because the incident command post was set up at the University of California Sierra Field Station off Peoria Road in Yuba County - began about 1 a.m. Sunday.
The cause of the fire was attributed to trees whipped by 45 mile per hour winds coming into contact with high-tension power lines, Shew said.
Although the springtime fire came at a relatively cool time, it was still no picnic to fight said first-time firefighter Stephen Seymour of the San Benito Monterey Ranger Unit fire detail.
"I liked everything but the heat," Seymour said of his baptismal fire.
Altogether about 900 Nevada Yuba Placer region CDF firefighters had been dispatched to 25 small and large fires since early Sunday morning, Shew said..
The fires included a 217-acre blaze in the Garden Bar area north of Lincoln in Placer County and a 200-acre wildfire at the Colgate Powerhouse near Dobbins in Yuba County, both of which have been fully contained, Shew said.
"To be this active in the spring makes us worry about what the rest of the year will be like ...especially in light of the low rainfall in Southern California and the fires already underway there," Shew said.
"We have to worry about how we're going to keep the troops fresh and safe," Shew said.
could take until Wednesday to contain
Sac Bee excloo
SMARTSVILLE 6/10/02 (YSN) - Firefighters from as far away as Mariposa and Redding continued to battle an 1,100-acre wildfire that forced 200 people to evacuate the Mooney Flat Road area, a California Department of Forestry spokesman said.
Some 520 firefighters using 90-plus pieces of equipment, including four helicopters, brought the so-called "Field" fire within 50 percent containment by mid-day Monday. Full containment was expected by Tuesday morning.
Mooney Flat residents were ordered out of the area about 3 p.m. Sunday after sparks jumped the south fork of the Yuba River and touched off small, but worrisome blazes that threatened as many as 150 homes, Napa CDF Battalion Chief David Shrew said.
But fire crews soon quelled the isolated fire patches and the homeowners were allowed to return about 10:45 p.m. that night, Shew said.
The view of the Yuba foothills from Blue Gravel Street in tiny Smartsville, population 389, showed the fire came no closer than a quarter of a mile, store clerk Denita Patton said..
No property damage and only one minor firefighter injury has been reported so far, Shew said.
"We are projecting full containment by about 6 a.m. Tuesday, but we'll stay in the area probably until Wednesday to monitor it, just in case," Shew said.
The "Field" fire - so dubbed because the incident command post was set up at the University of California Sierra Field Station off Peoria Road in Yuba County - began about 1 a.m. Sunday.
The cause of the fire was attributed to trees whipped by 45 mile per hour winds coming into contact with high-tension power lines, Shew said.
Although the springtime fire came at a relatively cool time, it was still no picnic to fight said first-time firefighter Stephen Seymour of the San Benito Monterey Ranger Unit fire detail.
"I liked everything but the heat," Seymour said of his baptismal fire.
Altogether about 900 Nevada Yuba Placer region CDF firefighters had been dispatched to 25 small and large fires since early Sunday morning, Shew said..
The fires included a 217-acre blaze in the Garden Bar area north of Lincoln in Placer County and a 200-acre wildfire at the Colgate Powerhouse near Dobbins in Yuba County, both of which have been fully contained, Shew said.
"To be this active in the spring makes us worry about what the rest of the year will be like ...especially in light of the low rainfall in Southern California and the fires already underway there," Shew said.
"We have to worry about how we're going to keep the troops fresh and safe," Shew said.
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