An excerpt.
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 16, 2006
FORESTHILL -- U.S. Forest Service officials said Friday that the Ralston fire, which has burned about 8,400 acres of wildlands in the Tahoe and Eldorado National forests, is nearly 80 percent contained.
Full containment is expected by Sunday, officials said in a press release.
"Crews will continue to hold and mop up along the containment lines," the release said.
Karen Durand, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service, said decreased wind, lower temperatures and fire breaks carved out by firefighting crews contributed to slowing the blaze Thursday and Friday.
"Because we're not considering it a danger any more, we'll be pulling back the number of people fighting it at night," she said.
The fire began Sept. 5 north of an area known as Ralston, east of Foresthill. The fire burned eastward and uncontrolled into wildlands between the Middle Fork of the American River and Mosquito Ridge Road.
Steep terrain, rocks and the forest made it difficult for firefighters to head off the blaze, officials said.
No fatalities have been reported, but at least five firefighters suffered minor injuries, the Forest Service reported.
A miner's cabin in a remote area along the Middle Fork below Ditch Camp was found destroyed Thursday, the press release said.
Officials estimated the cost of fighting the blaze has reached $10.5 million. Crews from throughout the state were brought in to battle the fire, which threatened 290 homes and 200 outbuildings during its critical stages, the Forest Service said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
