Forest Service Controlled Burn Grows Out Of Control Amid PG&E Shutdown
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — A prescribed burn in the El Dorado County National Forest is now out of control, forcing the U.S. Forest Service to double the number of crews on the fire lines.
The Caples Fire is burning between Highway 50 and Highway 88 near Kyburz. Twenty-five mile-per-hour winds spread flames faster than fire crews had planned. As of Thursday evening, the fire had burned 2,143 acres.
Officials said the fire is not threatening any structures.
The fire comes during a PG&E Public Safety Power Shutdown impacting customers who live in El Dorado County.
Ron Hacker, 67, is in the dark in his Pollock Pines apartment. His PG&E power was shut off for wildfire prevention only a few miles from the U.S. Forest Service controlled burn.
"It's kinda like, going one against the other," Hacker said. "You know it don't make any sense."
The smoke from that controlled burn that turned out of control Thursday could be seen through the trees outside a Pollock Pines community meeting where neighbors gathered to hear about U.S. Forest management.
Many in attendance came from homes where their PG&E power is also shut off.
READ: PG&E CEO Apologizes To Customers: 'We Were Not Adequately Prepared'
One woman who only wanted to be identified as Teresa G suffers from asthma and wore a mask to the meeting to keep smoke out of her lungs.
"Absolutely between a rock and a hard place," she said. "It's just wrong they aren't doing anything the right way."
A power company shutting off power for fire safety, as a forest service sets a fire for fire safety.
"It seems like two entirely opposite decisions right next to each other," CBS13's Steve Large asked El Dorado National Forest Supervisor Laurence Crabtree.
"Yes, but you have to remember we started burning this 10 days ago," Crabtree said.
The US Forest Service controlled burn was set a week before PG&E first alerted the public of its possible 30 county Public Safety Power Shutdown.
"Certainly we've had prescribed fires that we struggle to control and we've had power outages," Crabtree said. "I don't know that we've seen them together."
Fire prevention frustration, leaving people in El Dorado county with smoky skies, powerless.
