Jamestown Fire Cause Now Known

Fire officials have just released the exact cause of yesterday´s 245 acre wild fire near Jamestown.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Richard Imlach told AM 1450 KVML News this morning the fire was sparked by a tractor working in dry grass on the Rosasco Ranch off Highway 108.

“The tractor didn´t have a spark arresting muffler system on it and threw hot carbon into the dry grass and started the fire,” Imlach said.

“As a consequences of that,” Imlach added, “the property owner was cited for both operating equipment without a spark arresting muffer and for causing the fire.”

Firefighters are being praised for their efforts in keeping flames from reaching homes. Imlach said the fire got within several hundred feet of homes off Chicken Ranch Road and it was headed towards Jamestown and Sonora.

“The concentrated effort by firefighters over there on Chicken Ranch Road pretty much kept it from getting back down into the community there,” Imlach said.

That fire closed the Chicken Ranch Bingo and Casino for several hours yesterday afternoon.