450-acre fire burning in Auburn
Foresthill Road off I-80 closed, rec areas evacuated
A 450-acre vegetation fire is burning at Mammoth Bar Park in Auburn as of Thursday evening. Initial reports indicate fireworks started the fire. Multiple crews are responding to the incident at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Officials reported 40 percent containment Thursday night. California Highway Patrol had closed Old Foresthill Road between the Confluence and Foresthill Road as of 3:30 p.m. However, the Highway 49 bridge connecting Auburn to Cool remained open as of 4:30 p.m. Foresthill Road off Interstate 80 has also been closed. Placer County Sheriff’s Office deputies are currently evacuating Grizzly Range, the American River Confluence and the Lake Clementine Recreational Area, according to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Dena Erwin. About 375 fire personnel have responded to the call, 325 of which are Cal Fire crew members. Cal Fire also reported 25 engines, 12 fire crews, five air tankers, four helicopters, three dozers and four water tenders responded. An additional two engines not from Cal Fire assisted as well as three non-Cal Fire dozers. The Placer County Sheriff’s Office, California State Parks, California Highway Patrol and Placer County Water Agency were listed as cooperating agencies. According to Cal Fire’s online incident report, there are no known threats to communities at this time. Citrus Heights resident Jim Leimbach and his family and friends were stopped at about 4 p.m. just short of turning onto Foresthill Road in Auburn. The crew, complete with two campers pulled by pickup trucks loaded with dirt motorcycles, was headed to Morning Star Reservoir in Foresthill for a weekend of camping. When they turned off the Interstate 80 exit for Foresthill Road, a Placer County Sheriff’s deputy was directing traffic away from driving onto the road. “As soon as we got here, they shut it down,” Leimbach said. The Leimbachs pulled into a nearby parking lot and watched as the billowing gray cloud of smoke grew before them. “We’ll sit and here and wait until it opens or go home,” Leimbach said. “One or the other.” The Journal will update the story as more information becomes available. The Journal's Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment.
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Fireworks? Doesn't shock me at all. How many drunk, stoned teenagers were involved with this one and when are they going to jail for arson?
hope they dont close the foresthill road. i want to go home soon. fireworks and stupid people dont mix. and in dry brush? gotta be on something to do that.
Can't believe stupid people are setting off fireworks on this, the first day I saw "high" fire danger posted at the ranger station on my drive out of the canyon this morning. Hope it can be contained soon.
f688xt6 - Are you some old codger who sits on the porch with your binoculars, just waiting to nail one of those damned kids??
The fire just started...no one really knows what started it.
Geez ... that's right behind my house! Thanks for the update! you guys are all over it!
Please let us know if Foresthill Bridge is closed as soon as you know.
The bridge might already be closed. If you want to get home, I would leave NOW.
foresthill road is closed. damnit.
I think it's just Old Foresthill that is closed?
Every year, some dumb fool starts a fire up here. Sure, some "just start", but please..... it's right where all the people hang out on a hot day.... this is no coincidence and it didn't "just start". Why don't these morons start fires in their own backyards and see how it feels!
Ground conditions: gentle breeze in an easterly direction. CDF planes actively working since aprox 3:15 looks like they are starting to make progress @ 4:15. Fire season is here tell city folk not to drive on dry grass or we will see more....
Sorry guys but Foresthill Road is closed, not just old Foresthill Road. My cable installers just called and said CHP is diverting traffic at Foresthill Road...
CDF reports the fire at 250 acres.at 4:10 PM
Maybe an illegal pot farm worker started it.
I really appreciate the journal posting this so quickly. It's nice have a place to check to see if the road is closed.
LOL "observer"...you sound like a Scooby Doo episode "and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
To mrsclev; there are a lot of local White and Hispanic kids that hang out there also. ALL kids are known to cause trouble sometimes. I am a regular at the river with my kids. The Russian/Ukrainians have always been kind, pleasant river-mates that keep to themselves and pick up after themselves when they leave. People are people. Some good - some bad. And yes....you were being racist!
Observer: No, I'm probably younger than you, but I am tired of the people in our society who like yourself, don't hold anyone accountable for their actions and has no interest in doing so because you seem to have the ability to rationalize anything to fit your own personal view of the world. Perhaps you, yourself are so old and set in your ways that you cannot see the truth in front of you. The statistical odds favor someone under the age of 25 (and I'd be willing to bet under 20), probably drunk (and don't tell me underage drinking doesn't happen, because I see it and hear about it every day at work and it's almost never reported), possibly on drugs (maybe not weed, could be crank or norco's or what have you...) and definitely without any parental supervision, quite possibly for the majority of their lives. So, having used the interwebs for the purpose of commenting on something that should be painfully obvious to most rational residents of this county, I have excercised my constitutional right of free speech. So have you, but since all you do is personally attack people your credibility is suspect, and furthermore, your name "Observer" seems less and less descriptive of anything you post here. Having said that, and fully expecting another attack in return, I now leave you to it.
You are right I stand corrected. As I said I was not being racist but the last 2 times I was there they were not polite and picking up after themselves and they had a bbq that was overflowing with flames. They were obnoxious and disrespectful. If there were white kids or hispanic kids doing the same I would have mentioned it. Thw bbq stood out in my mind because it is common in that culture to have bbq's with large flames thats the way they bbq. I didn't make any racist remarks so relax. I have met plenty of nice Russian folks, just never at Mammoth Bar.....
Mrs Clev - I don't find fault with what you said at all - It is the truth! People here never used to be so darned PC. Geez - go down there and see for yourself then let us know.
This is for observer, for your information initial reports are that the fire was started by fireworks. The report of this is coming from those that are trained in this kind of investigation unlike someone like you that jumps on someone that has more common sense than you and are obviously are more observant. It is people like you that bother me. Always jumping to your own conclusions by accusing others of doing what you are doing. Don't they call that a hypocrite? Yes I believe they do, maybe you should change your pen name as you are not a very good observer. Go ahead and go wild on me as that is what you do. I do not care. Is your blood pressure up yet? I am laughing right now just knowing how mad this will make you. No one likes to have their faults pointed out. Do I think I have no faults? No I have many difference is I am aware of them. You seem to think you are perfect. Have fun responding. I will more than likely never see it as unlike you the bulk of my time is in the real world. I was only on line because I was checking on the fire as I have many friends that may need to evacuate not to mention all the wildlife that will suffer because of someones very stupid actions. Maybe you are defending them because you know them.
Frankly I am sort of dissapointed that some of you are on here arguing about what started this instead of being worried that part of our county is burning down, not to mention the wildlife that this affects, and the firefighters that have to be out there fighting fire in 107 degree heat geez pick your battles
Here I thought maybe it was some really happy guys having a hot time that started it.......
Observer: Caveat. Thirty years old to be exact. Computer hacker. Possible skinhead. Can lead to threatening phone calls to your house.
Difficult to know if just bully a type or dangerous. This is not a safe place to be.
The fire is in steep terrain, which means this fire will be put out by US Forest Service firefighters.
We need more control burns so this vegetation is eliminated. What lovely grasses will come in in the next year. More wildlife too. And maybe some wildflowers.
Well, for what it's worth here are my two cents. We back up to Folsom Lake and every summer we sweat it out waiting for some fool to start a fire. Yesterday We took the boat to the Rattlesnake Ramp area, we got there early and set up shore camp. We went wakeboarding and a couple of hours later we came back. A few people had arrived, among them a group of young kids armed with bottle rockets. I went over to talk to them and of course they listened very politely, NOT and continued their little barrage. I went back to talk to them and showed them were I have the Dispatch phone for the State Parks on my cell, I told them that I would call them and they would come over and the experience would not be pleasant. This was around 11:30- 12:00. Since they left, I am wondering if they went to the river and they are the ones that may have caused the fire. We saw the smoke about 3:15 PM or thereabouts.
Yes they are a lot of idiots in this world of all ages, gender, nationality, race, etc. it doesn't matter, they are idiots
Thank you firefighters for risking your lives to get the Mammoth Fire under control so quickly.
I agree. Thank you to all the brave Cal Fire people!
loomisresident...why didn't you report the brats with the fireworks????? They would have taken them away from them and cited them (maybe). It may have made the difference of this fire happening in my back yard.
In regards to the comments on "teenagers" immediately being blamed for the fire/fireworks. On the 4th I went to my brothers house in Roseville where we were lighting off fireworks in the street. Down the street there was a group, ranging in age from early 20s to late 30s. This group were light off roman candles, bottle rockets, and bricks of firecrackers. A few years ago I was in antelope and one of my neighbors (in his mid 40s) decided it was a good night for fireworks, he also was lighting of the same illegal fireworks as listed above. So in my experience, when it comes to age groups who are being careless with fire/fireworks, it has always been people of the age that should have known better, NOT teens. You making an assumption that this was "drunk teens" is as biased as me saying that the person driving the oversized sedan in front of me, in the 40 mph zone at 25mph and almost hitting every thing it passes, is one of you geezers.
Loomis resident, maybe you can assist the sherfif to see if these are the same people you saw at Folsom. They can get them on 2 counts of using fireworks
Teenagers? Mid 20's...30's? Some older dudes reliving their youth? Grandma? I don't care WHO caused the fire. I simply wonder what on earth goes through a persons mind just befre they lite the fuse..."the sound of crickets," Exactly what I thought. I sure hope I don't know those responsible because I'd have to believe they swim at the edges of the gene pool, and perhaps aren't such good aquaintances after all.
Ducky: Look, you're right that it really doesn't matter who started it, but as I later stated that the odds are someone under the age of 25. You aren't likely to see someone 65 or older burning their AARP card in a bonfire while lighting fireworks and slamming dope at the river. Seriously, the anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much when compared with arson statistics in California, crossreferenced by fireworks use. Just as if a "geezer" driving a Cadillac Fleetwood is more likely to kill pedestrians accidentally than a person in their 20's to 40's driving a Prius while listening to John Fogarty and wearing leather fringe jackets to their protest at the capitol. See, you can stereotype all day, but without data it's meaningless. Well, since we won't know for a while and possibly ever I just stated what I thought due to data that I have seen relating to the subject.
EZrider, I called the Parks Dispatch right in front of them that's why they left. Their cars were parked about 50 yards feet or so from the shore and were barely visible, otherwise I would have given a description along with a license plate.
f688xt6 - Dude! Lighten up...you're going to give yourself a coronary...Must you jump to conclusions before you know the facts? Don't you know that rash thinking usually ends up being wrong thinking? Most of the young adults out there are basically good people, whether they goof off a bit or not. Most of them will go on to be very productive and responsible adults. No, I don't have very many personal views of the world...I have spent quite a few years studying with masters of religion/philosophy so most of what I state, what I believe...comes from others
You havn't been reading my posts or you would know you have confused me with someone else...so I forgive you before you ask.
Observant - It was the comments on pot-smoking, probably drunk, teenagers, blah blah blah, that I was refering to. Don't sweat it, I am not one to get mad, wild, and least of all offended.