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Thursday, 17 May 2007 00:22

7 Fires Between Jackson & Pardee Lake: Crews Still On Scene

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Yesterday at approximately 3pm Camino Dispatch received reports of multiple vegetation fires in the area between of Stony Creek Road about a half a mile after Argonaut High school and Pardee Lake. A short time later at least 2 more fires that we know of were reported- one on Hurricane Hill and another at the Martell Y in front of the Panda House Restaurant. Those two fires were extinguished quickly. Crews from all across the county and even neighboring Calaveras responded to the Stony Creek and Pardee area. Jackson Valley crews, Cal Fire, the US Forest Service, Amador Fire Protection District, Ione Fire Departments, Jackson City Crews, Sutter Creek Fire, Pine Grove, hand crews from Pine Grove Camp and Growlersburg, MCSP crews, Tuolumne-Calaveras Units, and EB MUD, all responded in force. Helicopters and dozers were quickly called to the scene. Even local residents were doing their part with their sprinklers running and shovels in hand. As of the last report from Camino dispatch there were a total of 7 fires between Jackson and Pardee Lake.
Five of them were quickly extinguished and covered only about one and half acres combined while the largest fire was reported as being contained and at least 30 acres in size. The acreage on the second fire was confirmed to be smaller than 30 acres but actual acreage has yet to be confirmed. For the larger fire alone, 19 engines, 4 chief officers, 1 dozer, 6 hand crews, 2 water tenders, 2 tankers, two helicopters and an air attack plane all responded. --Prevention officers were called to the scene as there were reports of a white Ford F150 short bed in the area right as the fires began. Local law enforcement immediately began the search for the driver of the vehicle and Prevention officers began to follow some leads, one being that the vehicle was seen traveling on Stony Creek Road and apparently had sparks coming from it’s undercarriage. According to latest report from Camino Dispatch this morning they believe that the fires were not set intentionally. They believe the cause of the fires was vehicle malfunction that sparked road side fires and that the driver was unaware of the situation.
Read 979 times Last modified on Friday, 28 August 2009 02:06