Gold Country Fire Threatens Homes; Progress Made on 2nd Blaze
Billowing brown smoke butted up against an upscale subdivision Sunday as a wildfire began to encircle homes, briefly threatening several structures in the heart of gold country.
By nightfall, the threat had eased and a voluntary evacuation order for dozens of residents in the American River Canyon area was lifted.
The 100-acre blaze was about one-third contained and firefighters expected to fully surround the flames this morning, said Anita Yoder, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry.
At least eight aircraft fought the fire. Four air tankers and two helicopters that had been fighting the Plumas fire were diverted to help battle the blaze. Red fire retardant mixed with the plumes of brown smoke as the air tankers dipped near the neighborhood to battle the blaze.
The Plumas fire, which has raged through the Plumas National Forest since Aug. 18, was at 47% contained Sunday with 38,000 acres burned.
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