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C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
Volume 170 • Issue 101 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, August 27, 2021
Crews ‘chasing down’ fire on Wright’s Lake Road Thomas Frey Staff writer
Photo courtesy of Cal Fire
A spot fire burns along Wright’s Lake Road north of Highway 50 Wednesday.
The area around Wright’s Lake Road north of Highway 50 was hit with a 700-acre spot fire Wednesday, according to Eric Schwab, Cal Fire operations section chief. “We’re currently trying to get containment on that now,” Schwab said. “The west side of it and the north side of it are fairly secure right now, but again we are kind of chasing this one down. It’s spreading lateral. The winds will start to taper off ... I’m confident we’ll get dozer lines around that.” Overnight Wednesday the fire remained active in the northeast with most growth occurring east of Kyburz. Critical fuel conditions and steep and rugged terrain still present a challenges
for crews. Firefighters are continuing with firing operations in Grizzly Flat to help strengthen control lines. Winds Thursday over the fire were expected to be moderate, causing a slight reduction in fire behavior. However, fire conditions still remain active and challenging. Fire crews conducted firing operations Tuesday night south of Sly Park Road that went “better than expected,” Schwab said. “They completely closed the box. They started on both sides of the canyon on the Omo side and up off of Grizzly and burned all the way down into the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River (Canyon) and up the other side,” Schwab said. He said hand crews were at Sly Park trying to piece that (containment effort) together
Wednesday with bulldozing and back burning that will happen overnight. “If this is successful, it will reduce the complexity of this firing operation and it will reduce the amount of time we need to be working in there,” Schwab said. There will be a change in winds over next three days, according to incident meteorologist Jim Dudley. “The good news is we’re having a little change in the weather pattern,” Dudley said. “It’s almost going to stop southerly wind flow that’s been feeding into the fire area. Southwest and west winds are going to stop and we’re going to have very light winds aloft.” Fire behavior analyst Steve Volmer said that will help get a lot more resources in safely. Volmer said the very dense n
See Fire, page A6
EDC cares: Neighbors show support
Photo courtesy of Morgen Earle
Mountain Democrat photos by Andrew Vonderschmidt
BRING IT IN FOR LEGOS — Somerset resident and Lego social media influencer Morgan Earle is embraced by young evacuees as he hands out Lego sets at a Caldor Fire evacuation sites.
Competition Canine volunteer Lisa Bell holds four-legged evacuee Romeo at the doggie training facility-turned animal evacuation shelter in Placerville.
Community comes together to give fire victims a lift
All paws on deck to help four-legged evacuees
Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The El Dorado County community has stepped up in a big way to help victims of the Caldor Fire. Morgen Earle, Cameron Park resident and founder of @ earlefambuilds, a TikTok channel with nearly 630,000 followers dedicated to all things Lego, has taken his passion and put it back into the community. He and his father, Pioneer Fire District Deputy Chief Ken Earle, were talking about Caldor Fire evacuees, when Ken said, ‘Morgen, these kids … they got nothing.’ PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
Morgen’s response? “Not for long.” Morgen and his wife Lindsay Earle then went on what he calls a “smile run,” spending $2,000 on Legos and delivering them to evacuated children sheltered at Bayside and Green Valley churches in Placerville, as well as D’Agostini Ranch in south county. To the youngsters at these sites Morgen is now known as Caldor Fire Santa. “The community responded so well; they’re like ‘How can we support you to get more out there?’ So everyone in the community has just been sending me (money through) Venmo,” Morgen said. The Earles received $1,000 and with it went out and did a second smile run Sunday at Bayside, Walmart and other places where evacuees have set up. “We were kind of joking last night because we’re kind of fighting the fire on two fronts,” Morgen said “He’s fighting it physically and I’m fighting it mentally and emotionally.” Morgen, a Somerset resident who is himself displaced, said he has received an additional $800 to do a third run. At Bayside in
Placerville, volunteers have been serving an average of 10,000 people a day, according to Al Soto, lead pastor. The church has been providing space for tents and RVs so people can stay on the church’s Missouri Flat Road property. “Everyone gets helped,” Soto said. “Nobody gets turned away here.” Bayside provides two meals a day along with mobile showers and bathrooms. “I’m proud of the team and I am proud of the other churches in the area who have stepped up,” Soto said. “It is an amazing thing how the community has been responding to this crisis.” Soto said the church can use donations of tents, air mattresses and air pumps, as well as ice chests. “We are planning on an influx of people arriving since their hotel allowances are running out,” said Christie Rebolcaba, a volunteer coordinator for Bayside. “(Fire vctims) get an average of $500 to $1,500 to stay at hotels. It’s not that much.” District Church and Red Hawk Casino have helped donate portable n
See community, page A11
Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer El Dorado County is home to many animals large and small. When the call came down ordering thousands of residents to evacuate last week as the Caldor Fire threatened homes, those who could help, did just that. Staff at El Dorado County Animal Services got to work relocating animals already housed at the animal shelter to make room for incoming evacuees — both large and small, according to Henry Brzezinski, chief of El Dorado County Animal Services Animal Services has teamed up with a number of organizations that are experts at animal evacuations and rescues. Among the organizations lending a hand is South County Large Animal Rescue, which is helping with operations at the Amador County Fairgrounds and Saureel Vineyards animal evacuation sites. All About Equine, a local equine adoption group has been helping staff facilities. Code3 Animal Rescue, a national organization out of Longmont, Colo., has been helping with coordination in the field. Hold Your Horses, a large animal rescue organization out of Brentwood, has been helping with evacuation efforts. North Valley Animal Disaster Group out of Chico has been helping with the coordination of field rescues. The El Dorado County Office of Emergency Services has had help from many other municipal entities, including Placer County Animal Services, Calaveras County OES, Tuolumne County Animal Services, Sacramento County Animal Services,
Timothy Russ, an evacuee out of Somerset, visits Izzy who has been sheltered at Competition Canine in Placerville since last week. Contra Costa Animal Services, Livermore Police Department Animal Unit, San Mateo County Animal Services, Monterey County SPCA, city of Folsom Animal Services, Solano County Animal Services and Elk Grove Animal Services. “This is a very intense and coordinated effort,” said Brzezinski. “To rescue and care for these animals properly and shelter them is a huge effort. We could not do this without all the support that we have received.” As of Aug. 24, more than 1,300 animals are sheltered in various locations in El Dorado County. At the El Dorado County Animal n
See Four-legged, page A10
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