Firefighters Employ ‘Desperation’ Tactic Against Huge Blaze : Crisis: Crews set backfires during the daytime in a bid to halt 11,000-acre inferno in parched Mother Lode country. Thousands of residents are ordered to evacuate.

Firefighters deliberately torched brush to create firebreaks of scorched earth on Wednesday in a “desperation” bid to halt the massive blaze that was threatening to engulf several communities in the drought-parched Mother Lode country.

Thousands of residents along Highway 4 between Angels Camp and Ebbetts Pass were ordered to evacuate. Officials said as many as 14,000 people could be asked to leave.

“The situation’s bad, real bad,” California Department of Forestry spokesman Don Bryant said late Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t know whether those firebreaks are going to hold. It’s just blowing up all over the place out there.”

Normally, backfires are attempted only at night, when the humidity is higher, the temperature is lower and winds are calmer.

But a shift in the wind started driving flames from the 11,000-acre Calaveras County fire toward the little Gold Rush towns of Sheep Ranch, Murphys, Avery and Arnold early Wednesday. Firefighters ran out of water and were forced to flee two housing tracts, in Mineral Mountain and Indian Creek, that were quickly surrounded by flames.

“The water’s too scarce, the engines can’t carry enough,” U.S. Forest Service fire boss Jim Behm said.

The fate of the tracts was not known Wednesday night, but officials said several homes may have burned.

With many aerial tankers grounded by clouds of smoke and the heat too intense for firefighters to battle the blaze at close range on the ground, the backfires were ordered at midmorning.

“We have no other options now,” said Dan Ward, an official with the California Department of Forestry.

“We’re not just dealing with a wildland fire,” he said. “We’re dealing with people’s property and lives.”

The problem with backfires, the forester noted, is that they can get away from the firefighters who set them and cause additional damage. Setting backfires during the day, Ward said, was “a desperation move.”

The fire started Sunday afternoon about three miles east of San Andreas in the foothills of the High Sierra, about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento. Whipped by gusting winds, the blaze overran the tiny community of Fricot City and began pushing eastward, destroying 14 homes, 11 outbuildings, five commercial structures and 24 vehicles.

Despite the concerted efforts of a force of local, state and federal firefighters that eventually swelled to 3,600, the blaze continued to expand on Monday and Tuesday, fueled by stands of pine, oak and chaparral withered by six years of drought. “That fuel is about as close to gasoline as it can get,” Ward said.

On Wednesday, with temperatures topping 100 degrees and relative humidity dipping to only 10%, the firefighters found themselves retreating before an advancing wall of flames that frequently towered as high as 300 feet.

At least 15 backfires were lit Wednesday morning along the narrow, twisting road linking the communities of Sheep Ranch and Avery. More were lit Wednesday afternoon on the outskirts of Avery, some of them by a fire company from San Francisco that had never fought a wildfire before.

“We’re going to get our chance now,” one of the urban firefighters said as his truck headed into battle.

Officials said a dozen homes along Highway 4 were believed to have burned Wednesday afternoon, but no damage estimates were immediately available.

More than 2,000 residents around Murphys and Sheep Ranch had been evacuated by Wednesday morning, and by nightfall, Calaveras County sheriff’s deputies were ordering thousands of additional residents along Highway 4 to leave their homes and head east, toward Lake Tahoe, over 8,700-foot Ebbetts Pass.

“What we’re trying to accomplish . . . is to get people out so fire equipment can get in,” said Sandy Cuneo of the Calaveras County Office of Emergency Services. “We’re trying to avoid gridlock.”

Among those who pulled out Wednesday afternoon were George Gutheim and his wife, whose house is on the road between Sheep Ranch and Avery. He transported their two dogs with him in his pickup. She followed with the cats in the family car.

Gutheim said he decided to leave after firefighters told him they had only “limited resources” to battle the flames moving steadily toward his house. “We’re on our own,” he said. “Our choice is to take the animals and get out.”

A neighbor, Bob Thomas, decided not to leave.

Thomas, who retired a couple of years ago after 20 years with the Orange County Fire Department, pointed to his 1,000-gallon water tank and the lengths of fire hose he had laid out around the house.

“I’ll stay here,” he said. “I’ve had a fire go over me before. It’s not much fun, but it will be OK. It’s better than sitting in some motel, chewing my nails.”

Dan Foye, owner of a market in Avery that was the last business to remain open, finally was forced to close Wednesday night when the advancing fire cut the power lines into town.

“What hurts the most is that it has burned the homes of my friends, neighbors and customers,” Foye said as he put a few groceries into his truck and prepared to leave town. “The store can be replaced--insurance. But a home is personal.”

Meanwhile, two other wildfires continued to burn in Monterey County.

The larger blaze, on the Ft. Hunter Liggett Military Reservation 20 miles west of King City, continued to blaze out of control after blackening more than 1,700 acres of hillside brush and oak trees. Forest Service officials said the fire, which apparently started Monday afternoon, was only about 15% contained.

The smaller blaze was largely contained by nightfall Wednesday after burning about 200 acres of timber in the Ventana Wilderness.

Morain reported from Calaveras County and Malnic reported from Los Angeles.

California Wildfires

Winds drove flames from the Calaveras County fire toward the little Gold Rush towns of Sheep Ranch, Murphys, Avery and Arnold on Wednesday. The blaze blackened about 11,000 acres and forced thousands to flee. Another smaller wildfire continued to burn in the northeast corner of the Ft. Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, but did not threaten homes.