Mother Lode Fire Overview

Sonora, CA — Fires have plagued the Mother Lode region over the past few weeks. For all the news stories view our local news archive here. For evacuation tips view myMotherLode’s fire section here. A flyover of the area was posted on the 21st by Ashley Ramirez titled “146th Airlift Wing MAFFS Drop at Rim Fire” here.

Evacuated camps and communities:

•Spinning Wheel •Rainbow Pools •Buck Meadows •Yosemite Estates
•Camp Tawonga •Berkeley Tuolomne Camp •San Jose Family Camp •San Francisco’s Mather Camp •Hardin Flat •Naco West •Yosemite Lakes •Evergreen Lodge •Pine Mountain Lake •Peach Growers •Diamond O •Aspen Valley

August 22- The Rim Fire more than doubles to 53,887 acres over night. 58 evacuees at the Sonora Red Cross Center. An Air Quality Alert is issued here.  

August 21- Rim Fire: 3:30PM Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors submits request for Jerry Brown to declare a State of Emergency here. Local school classes were cancled and they remain closed for the week. Information on from the morning here. 129th Rescue Wing begins helping with the Rim Fire. Cherry Lake Campground is evacuated, as reported at 10:00pm.

August 20- Rim Fire: 8am two homes reported destroyed plus 7 other buildings, request for the fire to be changed from catigory 2 to catigory 1. 4,440 Acres in the morning to 16,228 acres. Supervisor Hanvelt declairs Local State of Emergency here. Red Cross Sets up an evacuation center.

August 19- Rim Fire grew from 450 acres to 2,500 acres Five engines remain on scene of the Bridges Fire for mop-up, and 65 firefighters are still assigned to the incident. Officials continue to investigate the cause.

August 18- Sunday the Rim Fire grew to 250 acres

August 17- The Bridges Fire was 10% contained. Update as of August 21, Jerry Snyder says that fires are not considered officially out until the first heavy rain.

August 13- Power Fire: About 20 fire fighters remain on the scene as well as one engine and water tender. The fire broke out around 6am on August 5th along the eastern edge of Beardsley Reservoir, near Hells Half Acre Road. It burned 1,070 acres of vegetation and threatened a hundred homes and some service roads were closed. It was called contained at around 1:00pm on August 13 just a little over a week since it started. Full story here.