As of this writing, Sunday, August 18, the American Fire has covered 12,950 acres and is 45% contained. There are 1,433 personnel involved in the firefighting operations.
At times this past week the smoke has drifted into the Sacramento Valley. I've watched firefighting aircraft heading to or returning from the fire pass near my house.
I had wanted to ride my mountain bike today to the site of Damascus, an abandoned mining town on Foresthill Divide. But with temperatures in the nineties and smoke from the fire, I decided to go another day. Instead, I drove to Foresthill to check on the smoke conditions. At Foresthill is an overlook of the Middle Fork American River. The canyon had less smoke than I expected. The winds were carrying the smoke in another direction.
A Tahoe National Forest ranger was at the overlook to answer questions from the public. She stood by a large board with a map of the fire containment boundary, plus other information. I stayed at the overlook for some forty minutes and several people came by, many asking questions.
The ranger didn't know when the fire would be extinguished. Lightning storms were in the forecast and they could complicate matters. No historic mining structures had been destroyed. The cause of the fire was under investigation - she wouldn't elaborate on this.
The cause of the fire prompted conversation amongst the visitors. Deep in the national forests including this one are marijuana grow operations, often manned by illegal immigrants from Mexico. (If you're hiking on a remote trail and see PVC pipes, you're in trouble. If you're hiking on a remote trail and you see PVC pipes and empty Jarritos bottles, you're in real trouble.) The general consensus amongst the visitors was that people on a marijuana grow operation had started the fire.
Hopefully the Forest Service will find who caused the fire.
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| Tahoe National Forest ranger answering questions |
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| Smoke in the canyon of the Middle Fork American River |
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