Update: Moccasin Fire in Tuolumne County continues to spread
Update: The Moccasin Fire had reached over 1,700 acres and “hundreds of homes” are threatened according to the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page late Thursday evening.
Mandatory evacuations had been issued for multiple areas including: Groveland and Pine Mountain Lake, Highway 120 to Boneyard, Second Garrote, and Incense Cedar Trail, and everything west of Second Garrote, Cherokee Trail, and Yosemite Springs. Old Highway 120 has been added as well.
All Jackass Creek Road, Jackass Creek Ridge, and Jackass Ridge access are also mandatory evacuation.
Evacuation warnings had also been issued for: Highway 49 North from the Mariposa/Tuolumne County Line to Mary Harrison Mine Road, and Highway 132 from the 4700 Block of Greeley Hill Road to Priest Coulterville Road.
The sheriff’s department reported that westbound Highway 120 was open to those evacuating.
There had been no reports of damaged property as of 9:30 p.m.
Original Story:
A vegetation fire that started near Moccasin in Tuolumne County Thursday afternoon has spread rapidly east forcing mandatory evacuations in the area.
The fire was first reported shortly before 2 p.m. near Highway 49 and Highway 120 in the southwest corner of the foothills county, west of Groveland. The then five-acre fire closed Highway 49 at the Highway 120 junction, to allow fire crews to access the area. The fire then grew in size quickly, according to alerts from the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page.
By 3:45 p.m. the fire had grown to 300 acres and a forced mandatory evacuation order from Highway 120 at Moccasin through Big Oak Flat, to Merrell Road in Groveland. The evacuation area includes Priest Coulterville Road. The fire is moving east at a “critical rate of speed,” according the sheriff’s department.
Power has been shut off from Moccasin through Big Oak Flat to Merrell Road in Groveland as well.
The sheriff’s department said evacuation centers are being set up at the Mariposa Fairgrounds, 5007 Fairgrounds Road in Mariposa, and the Manzanita Building at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds, 220 Southgate Drive in Sonora.
Officials from Tuolumne County Animal Control (209-694-2730) and Team ELITE (which stands for Evacuation of Livestock in Tuolumne Emergencies, 209-782-0616) will be on standby to assist with animals.
The state’s firefighting forces have been stretched thin as dozens of wildfires, many sparked by lightning from the recent heat wave, have broken out across California.
Due to the fire, the sheriff’s department said its dispatch center will not be taking any non-emergency calls. For non-emergencies contact the sheriff’s office at 209-533-6505 or 209-533-5833.
The Bee will have more on this fire and the evacuation order as it becomes available.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 5:01 PM.
