The blaze turned drought-stricken timber into torches, spewing embers as far as half a mile, Tolmachoff added.
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The fire has been contained to 6,900 acres and it has taken 1,825 fire personnel to handle the flames.
Hundreds of firefighters aided by air tankers fought the blaze, which is 5 percent contained.
Brooke said 688 people were in the campground when the fire ignited Tuesday afternoon about 6 miles east of Logan Pass. Word of the fire began to circulate and soon the plume of smoke could be seen in the distance.
Updates California fires; links new photos.
A column of smoke rises from the Wragg fire near Winters, Calif., on Thursday, July 23, 2015.
“The threat has diminished pretty substantially in a lot of areas”, Head said. Spots on rain in July only served to spur rapid grass growth and that grass, which he refers to as “fuel”, has since dried out.
Keaten says despite reports to the contrary, they have nothing to indicate fire retardant entered their closed water tank. What’s clear is that the state’s deep drought has helped it thrive.
Steep, rugged canyons have challenged the more than 1,500 firefighters deployed to battle the blaze, which also destroyed an outbuilding and a pop-up tent trailer, said Amy Head, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Since breaking out Wednesday, the blaze has burned 10 1/2 square miles now charred in drought-parched countryside near Lake Berryessa.
“You’re getting the last few weeks before school starts and getting all the fun you can”, he said.
“The concern is when [we] restart the system, we’re required to do bacterial sampling, and that’s a 48-hour test. And so we’re doing that right now and we should have the results tomorrow morning”, said Cary Keaten, the district’s general manger.
“Basically we are developing 21st century fire tower watchers”, Kent said.
Both a Red Cross evacuation center and a large animal evacuation center have been opened nearby.
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Cal Fire is responding to a vegetation fire near Lake Berryessa that started from a traffic collision on state Highway 128 around 2:30 p.m. By Saturday evening, the fire reached the Steephollow Creek area and is moving north.
