LAURA NORTON, The Press Democrat, June 29, 2008
Mendocino County fire officials expect to make headway today in the 35,700 acres of fire still raging through the county.
Twenty percent of the fires burning Sunday morning were contained, Tracy Boudreaux, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire said, and officials hope to make more progress Sunday as temperatures cool, humidity increases.
The 1,127 firefighters on the fires were granted a further break when an anticipated lightening storm that officials had feared would strike more fires Saturday night never materialized, Boudreaux said.
“We’re ready to get down and dirty with the help of the weather,” Boudreaux said . “We’re ready to go after these smaller fires with more resources.”
Of an estimated 130 fires that started in Mendocino County last weekend, 60 are still burning.
On Sunday fire crews plan to aggressively attack the smaller blazes, then commit resources to the larger ones.
The homes of 900 residents, mostly scattered through rural areas, are still considered to be at risk from the fires.
The cost to-date of the firefighting effort is almost $8 million, Boudreaux said.
