Update: At least 14 homes destroyed in Washington Fire

Update 3:15 p.m.: At least 14 homes in Jamestown were destroyed by the Washington Fire and an estimated 500 people remained under mandatory evacuation orders as of Friday afternoon, according to a Cal Fire incident commander.

John Zuniga, an incident commander with the Tuolumne-Calaveras Cal Fire Unit, said it could be another 48 hours before residents would be let back into their neighborhood north of Highway 108 and Golf Links Road.

Update 12 p.m.: Evacuation orders issued Thursday remain near Jamestown while they have been downgraded to warnings in the city of Sonora.

In a note to residents on its Facebook page, the Sonora Police Department said, “If you see yellow police tape on the front of your residence, that means it was verified that the home was unoccupied at the time of the evacuations yesterday.”

Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Deputy Niccoli Sandelin said in some evacuation zones, there was no time to mark the locations with tape.

“It was a very intense situation ... it was a mad dash because the fire was moving very, very quickly,” he said.

“We knocked on doors and pulled people out of homes because the fire was moving that rapidly,” Sandelin said, adding that no one resisted. “They could see the flames from their front door so when you’re presented with that type of situation, I don’t think many people are going to object.”

He said fortunately deputies were already on a call in the area, at a homeless encampment off Stockton Street, when the fire broke out. He said those deputies were almost immediately able to get into the affected area and start knocking on doors.

Due to the emergent situation, Sandalin said they did not get a count on how many people had to be evacuated.

He said about 15 people stayed overnight at the evacuation center at Tuolumne Memorial Hall at 18375 Fir Avenue.

There have been multiple reports of structures destroyed in the areas closest to Jamestown but neither Cal Fire or the Sheriff’s Department would confirm that, saying only that they’ve begun searing for damaged property.

Firefighters from Stanislaus County that responded to assist on Thursday are assigned to the east side of the fire, near Stockton Street in Sonora, said Modesto Battalion Chief Dough Rice.

He is leading a task force of three engines and a water tender from Modesto Fire, as well as an engine each from Stanislaus Consolidated, Salida Fire and Burbank Paradise Fire.

Rice said they are keeping hoses on the fire line on their side, which is about 20 acres, as well as doing mop up and looking for hot spots up to 100 feet in from the line.

Original Story: Firefighters made progress on the Washington Fire between Jamestown and Sonora overnight, achieving 10 percent containment and maintaining the number of acres at 81.

Some evacuation orders were lifted; however the neighborhood north of Highway 108 and Golf Links Road remains closed, as well as Southgate Drive from where the pavement ends.

Evacuation Warnings will remain in place in the surrounding area within a mile of the Evacuation Order zone.

Highway 108 is open in both directions but Stockton Street remains closed between Highway 108 and the Foothills Cafe.

Firefighters are continuing to construct and strengthen the fire line and on Friday morning began checking for damaged structures.

About 37,000 customers were without power in the area of the fire, which broke out in the area of Highway 108 and Golf Links Road at about 1:30 p.m.

PG&E spokeswoman Megan McFarland power has been restored to all but 215 customers in the mountains east of Sonora.

“These customers were de-energized for firefighting safety at the request of Cal Fire,” she said.

There are also down power lanes in the fire area, according to authorities.

Areas not in burn zones along Highway 108 that were under mandatory evacuations Thursday are expected to be repopulated this morning.

We will have more on this story as information becomes available.

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 8:55 AM.

Erin Tracy

The Modesto Bee

209-578-2366

Erin Tracy covers criminal justice and breaking news. She began working at the Modesto Bee in 2010 and previously worked at papers in Woodland and Eureka. She is a graduate of Humboldt State University.