Sugar Fire grows to nearly 12,000 acres
On Tuesday morning, July 6, the Sugar Fire was 490 acres and 70 percent contained. This morning, July 8, the fire is now 11,799 acres and 20 percent contained. On Tuesday, the fire was described as being near Beckwourth, but this morning it is bearing down on Frenchman Lake.
Hot, dry weather and wind are pushing the fire with more of both on tap for today. The Forest Service will be holding a virtual community meeting tonight at 7 p.m. on its Facebook page to discuss the situation: https://www.facebook.com/USFSPlumas
In this morning’s update, incident command described “A steady stream of helicopters, very large air tankers (VLATS), large air tankers (LATS), and fixed wings aircraft were engaged in the fire fight from above, with additional resources of firefighters, engine strike teams and dozers working below throughout the day. However, wind alignment and receptive fuels led to the fire’s growth.”
Last night crews worked to protect structures and keep the fire from spreading further. There are 572 personnel assigned to this fire with 12 crews, 8 helicopters, 39 engines, 1 dozer and 4 water tenders.
Mandatory evacuations remain in place and incident command is encouraging the public to heed all Plumas County Sheriff directions. Residents should pay close attention to the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page and text alerts for updates regarding evacuations.
“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,” system operations chief Jake Cagle stressed in a briefing last night. “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.”
As of now, mandatory evacuation orders have been issued around Dooley, Big Cove, Frenchman Cove, Frenchman Village and Frenchman Lake including all campgrounds and residences around the lake and Maddalena. An evacuation advisory is issued for Dixie Valley. An evacuation center has been established at 171 Gulling St. in Portola.
The Sugar Fire, that broke out July 2 due to lightning, is just one of the two fires that are part of the Beckwourth Complex. The other is the Dotta Fire, which broke out June 30, also attributed to lightning. It is holding at 670 acres and is 48 percent contained. Crews remain on that fire to get rid of smokes and improve depth of containment lines. A map of the two fires is shown below.
