Mosquito Fire: Residents Afraid of Losing 'Everything' as 11,000 Evacuate

The Mosquito Fire has burnt more than 40,000 acres in Placer and El Dorado counties in California, and has led to the evacuation of over 11,000 people, according to state and local officials.

The fire has been active for four days and is only 10 percent contained currently, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

The Placer County Sheriff's Office said early Sunday morning that "5,800 structures are threatened by the fire and it is estimated over 11,000 people have been evacuated."

The fire has yet to damage or destroy any buildings.

One area resident, Linda Gamble, told local news station KCRA that a sheriff's deputy had to drive "through the fire" to evacuate her and her family.

"We live in a trailer, and if we lose it, we've lost everything...If our trailer burns down, where are we going to live? It's just very scary," she said.

The station reported that in the nearby town of El Dorado Hills, haze from the fire was in the air, making people concerned about air quality.

"It's like Armageddon outside, but we're battening down the hatches and making sure that it's easy to breathe inside. Nice and cool," Andrea Riso, the owner of Talisman Collection Fine Jewelers, told KCRA.

In its latest update on Sunday morning, CAL FIRE said that the northern sections of the blaze "continue to be very active due to the extremely dry fuels in the area, and crews are working hard to stay ahead of the fire's progress."

"Due to the steep and rugged terrain, firefighters continue to assess for opportunities to build indirect control lines to the north and northeast of the fire," the department added.

CAL FIRE also said that cooler temperatures, and smoke and clouds forecasted for Sunday could impact fire conditions.

"The increase in humidity and shading produced by the smoke inversion and clouds should temporarily moderate fire behavior but expected afternoon southwest winds will lift the inversion and create better ventilation for increased fire activity," it said.

Newsweek has reached out to CAL FIRE for additional comment.

Other Nearby Wildfires

In addition to the Mosquito Fire, California firefighters are also battling the Fairview Fire, which at this point has burned nearly 30,000 acres and is 45 percent contained.

The state is in the midst of a heat wave, which extreme weather expert Colin McCarthy said was "one of the worst" in California's "modern history."

Oregon has also seen intense wildfires in recent days, and as of Friday, the state's Cedar Creek Fire had burned over 230,000 acres. Hundreds of firefighters in the state were dispatched, and officials issued evacuation orders after the blaze broke out.