The fire burned forced thousands of people to evacuate homes in nearby communities and destroyed 80 buildings, including 12 homes, when it burned for nearly a month in areas in and around
Eldorado National Forest.
Thousands of firefighters from
California and nearby states were brought in to battle the flames; 12 people were injured.
Forest supervisor Laurence Crabtree saluted state and local agencies that joined the U.S. Forest Service to fight the fire, according to the
Sacramento Bee newspaper.
“This unprecedented event has tested our expertise and expanded our abilities to work with each other,” Crabtree said in a
statement released Thursday.
“We have seen the community come together to show their support in many touching ways,” he said.
Crabtree singled out the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the
El Dorado County Sheriff's Department in particular for praise, but mentioned more than a dozen agencies that also assisted.
But officials also warned that the fire only contained, not fully extinguished.
"People can expect to see smoke from the interior of the fire area until there is significant rain or snowfall," officials said.
Response teams are on the ground checking on threats to people, property and natural resources in the burned-out area, they said.
Updates on those efforts are available online at
[url=http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4108]http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4108.
Along those lines, a workshop for affected landowners has been scheduled for Oct. 24 to help connect them with government and tribal resources that can assist with recovery and future prevention efforts.
The workshop, sponsored by the
University of California Cooperative Extension, is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pleasant Valley Grange at 4765 Pleasant Valley Road, southeast of Placerville.
More information about the workshop is available online at
[url=http://ucanr.edu/postfireworkshop]http://ucanr.edu/postfireworkshop, officials said.
