Evacuations underway as Pay Fire spreads at dangerous rate near Placerville; burns 61 acres

EL DORADO COUNTY – Mandatory evacuations have been issued and multiple airplane hangers were involved in a fire south of Placerville on Saturday afternoon, fire officials said.

Cal Fire AEU said the fire, called the Pay Fire, is about 61 acres with no containment as of 6 p.m. Firefighters had said it was spreading at a dangerous rate and structures are threatened.

The fire is moving east toward the Placerville Airport along Country Club Drive, the El Dorado County Fire Protection District said.

A spot fire was reported east of Texas Hil Road, forcing more evacuations, officials said.

The fire protection district said at 2:30 p.m. that multiple hangers were involved at the airport.

According to the evacuation map , mandatory evacuations are in place for roads such as Barett Drive, Brendan Way, Lions Park, and Airport Road from the Goldman Lane area to Country Club Drive. They were expanded around 4:45 p.m. to include Texas Hill Road to Big Barn Road.

The evacuation order was also expanded to the east side of Newtown Road, to include Parkway Drive, Ivy Knoll Drive to Learning Tree Road, Mining Brook Road and Still Meadow Road near the El Dorado Trail.

The map also shows evacuation warnings along Airport Road from Goldman Lane to Broadway. Those warnings extend east to Newtown Road to Barragan Court.

Notable buildings in the warning include El Dorado Adventist School, Gold Trail Motor Lodge and Premier Healthcare Placerville.

Evacuation warnings were also issued around 3:40 p.m. for the area south and southwest of Cedar Ravine Road. Roads include Nugget Lane, Elysian Way and Sluice Box Road.

The warning also includes northwest of the mandatory evacuations. Some roads now in evacuation warnings are Heritage Lane, Wiltse Road, Lane Drive and Eskaton Drive.

The latest warnings to be issued are for the Camino Heights area, including Camino Heights Drive to Highway 50. The warnings extend south to Newtown Road near Half Moon Drive.

A temporary evacuation shelter has been established at the Placerville Library, located at 345 Fair Lane.

Animals can be taken to El Dorado County Animal Service located at 6435 Capitol Ave. in Diamond Springs.

Power outages

There are also power lines down near the area where the fire started, the protection district said. However, firefighters have not said what caused the fire.

The PG&E outage map shows about 170 customers lost power just minutes after 2:30 p.m. south of the Placerville Airport.

Nearly 1,800 customers also lost power around 3 p.m. This outage extended from the airport area to Placerville and on the north side of Highway 50 near Placerville Drive. It was then reduced to about 311 customers in the area of the evacuation orders and warnings.

Road closures

Airport Road is closed at Broadway and Cedar Ravine Road is closed at Cedar Ravine and Camp Nauvoo Road.

Residents evacuating the area are urged to use Paydirt Road to Cedar Ravine Road to evacuate.

Newtown Road is blocked at Mining Brook Road and Parkway Drive.

A road block is set up at Nugget Lane and Gingham Court and at Texas Hill Road at Big Barn Road.