All You Need to Know About Mosquito Fires in California
The Mosquito Fire has burned over 69,000 acres as of Friday, becoming the largest in the state so far this year.
On Friday, the Battle against California’s largest wildfire of the year grew to nearly 70,000 acres. Notably, on September 6, the Mosquito Fire first broke at Mosquito Road and Oxbow Reservoir, east of Foresthill in Placer County.
Since then, it is burning through parts of El Dorado and Placer counties in California. As of Sept. 16, the fire was 20% contained. As of Thursday, over 3,500 active fire-fighting staff were working on the fire. The administrative units too from multiple areas are helping to fight the fire, including units from El Dorado, Tahoe, and Foresthill.
However, as of now, no deaths or injuries have been reported from the fire. But it destroyed at least 70 structures. “Firefighters have been very successful in holding the control lines along the communities of Todd Valley and Foresthill despite challenging fire conditions on Tuesday,” Cal Fire wrote.
Furthermore, the update said that the firefighters went on to work throughout the night to guard and secure control lines around both the south and east sides of the fire. On Thursday the weather was comparatively cooler and winds were lighter in the area of the fire, helping firefighters combat the rapidly growing blaze. The lighter winds will also help to push out the smoke inversion and provide clear air in the area, according to Cal Fire’s update.
Previously when the fire first broke at Foresthill neared a high of 110 degrees and an overnight low above 80 degrees. During that time temperatures did not dip below 80 until two days. “Overnight, smoke settled back into drainages due to easing winds, with a majority of the fire area seeing good humidity recovery,” Cal Fire said in a status update.
Unfortunately, California saw 6,357 fires so far this year. The quantity of acres burned is significantly below average by over a million acres. National statistics show a total of 91 large fire incidents and over 50,000 year-to-date wildfire incidents. More than 6,700,000 acres have been burned across the nation so far this year, according to National Interagency Fire Center.
