Wednesday, 05 September 2007 23:18

Lick Fire Continues to Burn - Smoke Moving into Gold Country

slide6It is most obvious at sunrise and sunset- smoke on the horizon coming from both the north and the southwest with two major wild land fires now burning. About 1,300 firefighters are on the scene now to battle a wildfire burning in Henry Coe State Park. A spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the fire has now consumed about 11,000 acres as it moves in southwesterly direction through Henry Coe State Park.
The fire, named the “Lick Fire” started at about 2 p.m. Monday and is currently just 20 percent contained. The homes of two rangers who live in the park have been evacuated. One outbuilding has been destroyed. Ten other cabins have been evacuated.  The fire is burning toward Stanislaus County. Fire crews there have been placed on alert in case they are needed to help fight the stubborn blaze. At first light today and yesterday crews began using six air tankers and four helicopters as well as a DC-10 which has been retrofitted for fighting fires. A retardant re-loading facility for the DC-10 has just gone into operation at Sacramento's McClellan Air Park to aid in Northern California firefights. No one has been injured. The second major fire in Northern California is the Plumas County Moonlight fire which is burning about six miles north of Greenville. The fire has burned about 10,000 acres and is just 5 percent contained as of the Wednesday morning update. There are 1000 total personnel involved in the fire fight which is being fought in difficult terrain.