Fire started here
Cause remains under investigation
A Cal Fire battalion chief confirmed Wednesday that the orgin of the fire was at a intersection of Rock Creek Road and Highway 49. However, officials do not yet know the cause of the fire. “This is where the fire started, but we don’t know how,” Bill Mendonca, Cal Fire battalion chief, told the Journal’s editor and publisher Wednesday. Mendonca was referring to a power pole on Highway 49 and the area surrounding it. Mendonca said it was a “process of elimination” to determine how the fire started. Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Brian Swanson reiterated Wednesday that the cause is still undetermined. “PG& E is cooperating with Cal Fire and other public safety agencies to identify the cause,” Swanson said. Gerry Claflin reportedly snapped a picture of the pole in flames at about 2:50 p.m. Sunday while driving on Highway 49. MyAuburn user LoriGerkhardt posted the photo Monday. Jeff Brand, incident commander for the 49 Fire, said the fire started at about 2:22 p.m. Sunday. The blaze scorched 343 acres of land in North Auburn and destroyed 63 homes and three commercial buildings. In addition to three injuries, numerous household pets lost their lives in the fire. An additional three homes and six businesses received “major” damages. The fire was fully contained by Tuesday evening. ~ Jenifer Gee ---------- Anyone who took photos of a power pole on the east side of Highway 49 between 2:15 and 2:50 p.m. Sunday are asked to post photos on auburnjournal.com or send them to ajournal@goldcountrymedia.com. ----------
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Public Resources Code section 4292. PG&E has primary responsibility for fire protection to maintain around and adjacent to any pole or tower which supports a switch, fuse, transformer, lightning arrester, line junction, or dead end or corner pole, a firebreak which consists of a clearing of not less than 10 feet in each direction from the outer circumference of such pole or tower.
If PG&E caused the fire, they should immediately start taking care of the victims.
Thank the lord
the church was not burned.
bigboy: the lord had nothing to do with it.
PG&E has had problems with large birds and squirrels shorting across power lines, switches, fuses, transformers, etc. I wonder if this could be the cause of the power pole fire and thus the vegetation fire?
The smoking gun ?
It looks to me that someone pitched out a or something and started the grass to burn If you look to the left in the photo, you can see the grass already burned and gone out, along with the sign next to the pole, which is also burning down low. If a tree blew down somewhere in the wind, and caused the breakers to blow, the sparks, if there were any, would have blown quite a ways to the north, as evident by the smoke blowing sideways.
I herd it all take place from the beginning on my scanners, and herd them jump right on it right away.
But what do I know, I'm just a dumb Cat Skinner
Richwise ,
maybe I should be asking you this then. I read another post that said they heard Auburn city fire engines canceled or told not to respond. Did you hear that when you were scanning that day.
The pole didn't look to be on fire at 2:20
How did the pole start the fire? I rode my bike to work that day..I work at the hospital, I parked my bike and looked outside and noticed the fire, I walked down and was watching like everyone else and noticed the fire behind the cool house which decorated every christmas very nicely. I saw ALL the fire trucks blow on by that house to get ahead of the fire to help contain it.. I noticed black smoke starting to puff off the telephone pole and so did my co-worker. I call PCSO and they transferred me to the fire department, and the department said they had it under control. hmmm telephone pole is getting ready to engulf and electrical wires.. so I ran over to the PCSO deputy who was at education and 49 to tell him to radio to someone about the pole..I didn't want the power to go out, didn't want it to effect the hospital.. I know I was outside and not inside. My phone call was @ 2:53, the PCSO record should show that... also I have pics on my phone starting @ 2:32 showing fire behind that poor red house. SOO that is NOT where the fire started.. that's why you don't know how it started.
There's a lot missing here still. You can't come to conclusions just from one of the pictures. It is possible that some plastic at the top of the pole caught on fire, melted, dripped down to the bottom of the pole, caught the grass on fire and then, much later, the drips finally caught the pole on fire. Otherwise, if there's no plastic up there that will catch on fire and melt like that, then PG&E is victim of a witch hunt.
People will want to sue, and get as much as possible if it was PG&E. Looks like a good debate for or *against* tort reform will also ensue. Never mind the red tape that I've read about the firemen not having direction at the start of getting there. God forbid, one of the firefighters to first show up should be allowed to make a decision! How high up the bureaucracy ladder does the blame go for the delays in putting out a simple grass fire?
This fire will test a lot of people's lives.
I just want to say that I was driving by the flaming pole.. and before I saw the flaming pole, I saw the fire behind the new carpet store, which was a half mile away from the buring pole.
I just want to say that I was driving by the flaming pole.. and before I saw the flaming pole, I saw the fire behind the new carpet store, which was a half mile away from the buring pole.
I just want to say that I was driving by the flaming pole.. and before I saw the flaming pole, I saw the fire behind the new carpet store, which was a half mile away from the buring pole.
a friend of mine was rushing his mother to the hospital that day and say an idiot throw his cigarette out the windo and the dry grass start on fire, said the guy tried putting it out with a blanket and that caught fire, he thought it was just a small grass fire and they would get it out right away . when he came back out of the hospital that fire was raging
I bet that all resources in the area could not fight this fire and that some had to be held back in case something else was a problem, like the small start on Mt. Vernon the same day. Heard it on the scanners......
Scooterbo, If that is true, don’t you think that would be valuable information the investigators would want to be made aware of?
auburnnative, was that necessary? I know a lot of people were praying hard and I believe that it made a difference. As devastating as this fire was, it could have been worse.
I thank the people who put their lives on the line to put this fire out. If others want to take away some of that and give credit to God instead, then I guess that's their right.
The correct time for this photo is 3:14 p.m , as shown from the cell phone records. It's important to have all the facts straight when determining how this fire started. Please allow the investigators to do their job, before jumping to any conclusions. The most important thing right now is to extend help to the victims of the fire. PLEASE donate what you can to the Red Cross.
I tried to donate for an hour and a half yesterday. Food, diapers, clothing. After being sent to 7 different places around town, I discovered that; Salvation Army does not specify where a donation will be distributed under any conditions, even if marked on the box. It is taken down to the distribution center in Sacramento where it is prepared and distributed according to how they see fit to ALL area locations including Sacramento, Elk Grove, etc. The victims will then receive a voucher to shop at any location. I also learned that the victims must meet income eligability before they can receive benefits. The Red Cross has the same standard of income eligability and they only want money. This makes no sense to me. I just wanted to give to people who were affected by the fire, not have to hurdle all this red tape. Today, I'm going to try again to donate...I think I'll just drive over to the fire and see if can give to a family digging through the rubble.
Nicole I agree! Too much red tape to help "our neighbors". I saw in a few different posts that there were different local businesses that were collecting items to help.
Community 1st bank has accounts set up for the fire victims.
O'brien preschool and daycare on F ave in the Dewitt Center is donating directly to victims. Their phone number is 530-885-0530.
I found that most drop off locations around town are just forwarding their donations to the Red Cross or Salvation Army which defeats my purpose of avoided those organizations for reasons stated previously. Thanks '49 sucks' I've just called and verified the info at Obrien preschool located on 1st and E ave. in Dewitt, I'll be dropping my donations off there. (they close at 6pm by the way.)
I agree with 2049er. God had nothing to do with this... and neither did any other diety or supernatural being! The firecrews did a great job. But I don't feel that fuzzy about their higher ups who took too long to get a plan together.
A number of deputy sheriffs are going to be in North Auburn on Friday at 8:00 am, off duty, providing assistance to anyone who needs help sifting through the ashes and looking for lost belongings. They plan on having volunteers on site through the weekend. If anyone needs any help, or if you know of anyone, call Rick at (530)368-0690 or Pat at (530)308-0776.
auburn native i will pray for you satanist.
@thebigboy:
Just because of what auburnnative said, does not automatically make them a satanist, have you read the news some homes were also not burnt down but everything else nearby did, the church was one of a few survivors of luck.
In many fires houses or places randomly are missed by the fire.