Dove Fire Burns 224 Acres, 70 Miles West of Yosemite
A wildfire burning in the hills near Sonora has stopped growing as firefighters work to contain the blaze that forced evacuations across parts of Tuolumne County.
The Dove Fire broke out just before 3 p.m. Sunday southwest of Sonora, near Highway 108 and Mill Villa Road, spreading quickly through dry fuels, prompting mandatory evacuations and road closures within and around the city.
Cal Fire said Monday that the blaze now sits around 224 acres, with the initial cause still under investigation.
“There’s a lot of smoldering debris still within the fire perimeter,” said Emily Kilgore, a public information officer for Cal Fire’s Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, who had just returned from the fire lines on Monday. “Firefighters are still installing a containment line and strengthening that perimeter.”
The fire was at 0% containment on Monday afternoon, with 484 personnel assigned, Kilgore said. But it had not moved since Sunday afternoon.
The Dove Fire is the latest in a string of wildfires testing Bay Area and Northern California crews during a hot, dry stretch. Last week, the Little Fire scorched more than 1,000 acres near Pleasanton and Sunol before crews were able to halt its spread.
Two firefighters were hurt Sunday, Kilgore said. One suffered an ankle injury, and the other showed symptoms of heat illness; both were taken for medical evaluation and have since been released. Damage inspections are underway, and Kilgore said it was not yet clear whether any structures had been affected.
Despite the heat wave settling over Northern California this week, with temperatures inland climbing toward 100 degrees and humidity dropping, Kilgore said forecasters’ warnings are more of a concern for new fires than for this one.
“For this particular fire, firefighters are doing good work on getting that containment installed, so we don’t anticipate that affecting the fire behavior,” she said. The heat and dry fuels, she added, are “a prime source of contributing to wildfire ignitions” across the region, and she urged people doing outdoor work to use caution and shift activity to the cooler morning hours.
One hazard crew is watching within the fire’s footprint is old mine shafts, Kilgore said, a legacy of the Gold Country terrain, which firefighters are working around as they build line.
Despite headlines placing the fire “near Yosemite,” it is not affecting access to the national park, which sits about 70 miles east, Kilgore confirmed.
Newsom announced Sunday that California had secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from FEMA to help cover the response, allowing local, state and tribal agencies to recover up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs.
“The Fire Management Assistance Grant is an important tool that helps ensure local and state agencies responding to fast-moving wildfires have the resources needed to keep communities safe,” Cal OES Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs said in a statement.
According to a Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office update on Monday afternoon, Highway 108 fully reopened, with some evacuation orders issued over the weekend downgraded to warnings.
Mandatory evacuations remain in place for a cluster of streets including Golden Dove Lane, Silver Pine Drive, Southgate Drive and parts of Stockton Road, with warnings covering additional areas.
An evacuation center is open at the Tuolumne Community Resilience Center at 18241 Bay Ave. in Tuolumne, where evacuees can bring small pets.
The National Weather Service has warned that as heat peaks, fire danger will build across the region through the following weekend.
Kilgore urged residents to keep an evacuation kit ready and to monitor Cal Fire’s website and the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office for the latest. “If you live in the area and do not feel safe, please leave,” the office wrote in a Facebook post. “Do not wait to be told to evacuate.”