The Electra Fire burning southeast of Jackson in Amador County grew from 900 acres to over 3,000 acres overnight and is threatening 450 structures, officials said Tuesday morning.
The fast-growing wildfire, which sparked Monday near Vox Beach, was uncontained, with Cal Fire noting the blaze was growing “at a dangerous rate of speed.”
Cal Fire said Tuesday there was a continued threat to critical power infrastructure and added that steep, rugged terrain was making it difficult for fire crews to access the South Fork of the Mokelumne River drainage area.
Residents in Amador County and in the Butte Mountain Road area were under mandatory evacuation orders, according to the Amador County Sheriff’s Office. Cal Fire also issued a mandatory evacuation for all residents within a 2-mile radius around Lake Tabeaud.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Amador County officials expanded the boundaries of the areas under evacuation orders and warnings to encompass an area just east of Jackson stretching to an area west of Pine Grove.
At one evacuation site at Italian Picnic Grounds in Sutter Creek, Jim and Lesley Davis grilled hamburgers beside of their trailer after the fire forced them to flee their Jackson home on Monday. The couple last evacuated from a wildfire in 2015, when the Butte Fire swept through the area.
Lesley said she was napping around 4:30 p.m. Monday when her friend called. “Are you aware there’s a fire near your house!” Lesley recalled her girlfriend yelling.
A map showing areas of Amador County under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Electra Fire.
Amador County Sheriff’s OfficeShe jumped up and alerted her husband, who prepared their trailer while she wrangled their two cats, Fritz and Miles, Rocky the dog, and five chickens into animal crates.
A massive dark plume of smoke billowed from behind their house as they pulled out of the driveway. Their property with grazing pastures and a vineyard is a quarter-mile from the fire’s origin.
“That really put an exclamation point on our need to evacuate,” said Jim Davis.
Dave Rice was cooking dinner when evacuation orders hit the area. He helped his visually impaired wife into their truck and towed their trailer to a nearby evacuation center.
It’s not the first wildfire he’s seen from his property, but he said natural disasters are everywhere. If he loses his home to the Electra Fire, he and his wife will likely move to Florida to be closer to his daughter.
“If God pulls the rug out from under our feet, then we’re gone,” he said.
A firefighter douses flames from the Electra Fire in Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras County, Calif., on Monday, July 4 2022.
Ethan Swope/The ChronicleAbout 100 people were safely evacuated from a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. facility Monday after taking shelter from the rapidly growing fire, according to Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman.
A PG&E spokesperson said about 12,000 people were without power in Amador and Calaveras counties. The utility also has a “number of assets potentially at risk,” the spokesperson said, adding that PG&E understands their equipment was not involved in the cause of the fire based off the location and the time it started. The cause of the fire remained under investigation, Cal Fire said.
The Amador County Sheriff’s Office expanded the boundaries of the evacuation mandates and warnings prompted by the swelling Electra Fire.
Amador County Sheriff’s OfficeThe Amador County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to inquiries on how many people had been evacuated as of Tuesday morning.
Caltrans said that State Road 26 was closed, both eastbound and westbound, from Buckeye Lane to Lower Dorray Road.
A firefighters battles the Electra Fire in Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras County, Calif., on Monday, July 4, 2022.
Ethan Swope/The ChronicleOne first responder was injured fighting the blaze.
Jordan Parker (he/him) and Matthias Gafni are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @jparkerwrite, @mgafni
