Some mandatory evacuations remain for Pay Fire near Placerville; containment up to 25%

EL DORADO COUNTY – Adjustments have been made Sunday to some of the evacuations caused by a fire that sparked on Saturday afternoon near Placerville. 

Cal Fire AEU said the fire, called the Pay Fire, remains at 77 acres with 25% containment as of Sunday evening. Firefighters had said it was spreading at a dangerous rate and structures were threatened. Firefighters said on Friday that the forward progress had been stopped. 

“There was a firefighter in my yard as I was getting stuff and it looks like we are to be out of here,” said Placerville resident Jared Noceti.

The fire was moving east toward the Placerville Airport along Country Club Drive, the El Dorado County Fire Protection District said. 

“They were flying so low he got fire retardant on the plane and he had to duck under the wing so they’re working hard,” Penny Solano said as she and her husband were checking on their plane. 

A spot fire was reported east of Texas Hil Road, forcing more evacuations, officials said.

The fire protection district said at 2:30 p.m. that multiple hangers were involved at the airport.

Evacuations 

As of Sunday afternoon, evacuation orders remain for Paydirt Drive, portions of Airport Road near the airport, and north of Texas Hill Road.

The orders changed on Sunday to warnings were for the areas around Cedar Ravine Road and Texas Hill to Gingham Court, Big Barn Road and south Texas Hill Road. 

The east side of Newtown Road, including Parkway Drive, Ivy Knoll Drive to Learning Tree Road, Mining Brook Road and Still Meadow Road near the El Dorado Trail, are in warnings.

Roads also included in evacuation warnings are Nugget Lane near Gingham Court near Nugget Lane, Barrett Drive, Country Club Drive near Duden Drive to Cedar Ravine Road, Airport Road from Goldman Lane to Broadway, and Broadway just west of Airport Road to Newtown Road. The areas east of Newtown Road, including Parkway Drive, Ivy Knoll Drive and Mining Brook Road are in evacuation warnings. 

The Camino Heights area is no longer in an evacuation warning.

A temporary evacuation shelter has closed at the Placerville Library, located at 345 Fair Lane. 

Animals can be taken to El Dorado County Animal Service located at 6435 Capitol Ave. in Diamond Springs.

An overnight shelter was set up at Union Mine High School at 6530 Koki Lane in El Dorado and remains open.

All this information is available on the Perimeter Map. 

Power outages

The fire protection district said power lines were down in the area where the fire started. 

The PG&E outage map showed about 170 customers lost power just minutes after 2:30 p.m. south of the Placerville Airport. The power was restored Sunday evening.

Nearly 1,800 customers also lost power around 3 p.m. This outage extended from the airport area to Placerville and on the north side of Highway 50 near Placerville Drive. It was then reduced to about 311 customers before being restored to all customers. 

Road closures

As of Sunday, traffic control remains at Texas Hill Road and Gingham Court, Texas Hill Road at Big Barn and Big Barn at Newtown Road.