Sugar fire grows additional 3,000 acres today
The evening of Wednesday, July 7 brings news about the Beckwourth Complex incident, which is comprised of the Dotta and Sugar fires.
As of 8 p.m., the United States Forest Service-Plumas National Forest (USFS-PNF) reported that the Sugar fire is at an estimated 6,000 acres with 30 percent containment, which means about 3,000 acres of growth today.
“In the Sugar fire specifically, we have resources going in and doing what we call point protection, which is strategies going in with a focus solely on the structures themselves,” said California Interagency Incident Management Team 4 system operation chief Jake Cagle during the evening update.
“If there’s opportunities to do fire suppression then we definitely will but our priority is life safety and structures,” Cagle said.
Night shift resources are currently heading out for the transition to continue activities, ensuring a 24-hour staff on the incident.
The right flank of the fire near Trosi Canyon is also being worked currently as well.
It was stressed that residents should pay close attention to the Plumas County Sheriff Office Facebook page and text alerts for updates regarding evacuations on areas such as Big Cove and Cottonwood, with a partial forced closure in Beckwourth and the east shore of Frenchman Lake down to Hwy. 70.
“Please mind the mandatory evacuations, it is imperative that you do. It helps us firefighters to go in there and make sure that we’re not focusing on trying to get you out,” Cagle stressed. “A lot of these roads are one-way access, so if you’re trying to come out, we can’t get fire equipment in there.”
It is expected that fire activity will start dying down through the evening hours, and the night shift will be taking robust advantage and working to prepare for the high temperatures and more significant winds with gusts up to 30 miles per hour predicted for tomorrow. “To put it in perspective, today the wind gusts were from 15-20 miles per hour,” Cagle said.
As for the Dotta fire, it remains in its current footprint with no growth, and has resources still actively working the incident to maintain the advantage that is held at this time.
