A flare-up in the week-old Wragg fire near Lake Berryessa prompted another round of home evacuations Tuesday as firefighting crews added triple-digit temperatures and windy conditions to their challenges.
The flare-up in Wildhorse Canyon, on the blaze’s south side, brought the fire’s total acreage to roughly 7,100 acres as of this morning, though the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is still reporting 80 percent containment.
“The forward progress of this fire activity has been stopped,” Cal Fire officials reported on the agency’s incident information website today. “The fire stayed within the control objectives and within the secondary containment lines.”
However, because of today’s extreme temperatures — expected to hover around 106 — and low humidity, “this fire still has the potential to expand,” officials said.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered Tuesday for Mix Canyon, Sky Ranch Road, Wildhorse Canyon Road and Blue Ridge Road — comprising abut 136 homes and 200 residents — while an evacuation advisory was issued for Gates Canyon Road and the area west of Pleasants Valley Road.
An evacuation center has been established at the Ulatis Community Center, 1000 Ulatis Drive in Vacaville. The phone number is 707-469-4000.
More than 1,400 fire personnel remain assigned to the blaze, which broke out in the rugged Napa/Solano County region on July 22 for reasons that remain under investigation. Several other residential neighborhoods and campgrounds were evacuated last week, but those orders have since been lifted.
Mix Canyon Road at Pleasants Valley Road remained closed to traffic as of this morning, while Gates Canyon Road at Pleasants Valley Road is accessible only to residents with identification, Cal Fire reported.
The Lake Solano campground also is closed to allow fire equipment access.
Structure losses have been limited to the destruction of two outbuildings, while four outbuildings and one residence have sustained fire damage.
Flames also damaged a walnut orchard and destroyed two vehicles, Cal Fire reported.
The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, Yolo County Office of Emergency Services and the Yolo County Airport provided local assistance to the firefighting effort, with the airport serving as a base for the deployment of helicopter fire suppression efforts last week.
Helicopters and crews used the airport to perform pre-flight checks, refuel and transport tethered buckets to Lake Berryessa, where they would collect water for use in dousing the flames, according to Yolo County spokeswoman Beth Gabor.
Crews also used a specially converted, military-style Bell Cobra helicopter to transmit video of the fires to a ground controller, who then directed helicopter support to target specific areas of the fire, Gabor said.