I was among a team of digital staff who started and continued to update this blog after a wildfire exploded overnight to more than 14,000 acres. The updates continued for several days. Full story here.
September 10, 2015 – Original Post: In the foothills, wind and triple digit heat boosted the Butte Fire to 4,000 acres just hours after starting. The blaze jumped from Amador into Calaveras County and took out key power infrastructure — a massive hydro-electric system on the Mokelumne River.
PG&E is waiting for fire crews battling the blaze to contain it before they can restore power to about 17,000 people. Deb Harrigan is with PG&E. She says they’re applying lessons learned earlier this fire season to the Butte Fire.
“We’ve got a fire down in the Fresno area — the Rough Fire — so we have lots of folks dedicated to that effort. And we absolutely take those lessons and apply them in these situations,” says Harrigan.
Currently at 30 percent contained, the Butte Fire started Wednesday afternoon. PG&E says power could be restored tonight.