A grass fire dubbed the Fine Fire is burning near the Stanislaus-Calaveras county line east of Milton Road, spreading north at a moderate rate through foothills roughly 15 miles northwest of Copperopolis. The blaze was burning south of Milton, close to Rock Creek Road, and prompted a multi-agency response as crews worked to keep it from growing further.
Fire crews from both Stanislaus and Calaveras counties responded to the fire, according to mymotherlode.com, which reported the blaze had grown to 60 acres while burning in grass near 25400 Milton Road, just south of the Calaveras County line. The California Highway Patrol was also requested to help manage traffic control in the area, per the same outlet.
Acreage estimates diverged as the day went on. CBS Sacramento reported the fire had grown to about 60 acres, according to Cal Fire, while modbee.com separately reported that the Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit put the burned area at about 100 acres in north Stanislaus County at the Calaveras County line. The modbee.com report also described the fire as zero containment and burning east of Milton Road, spreading north at a moderate rate.
Crews Report Progress Even as Containment Figures Stay Murky
Despite the uncertainty over total acreage, fire managers signaled the situation was improving. Cal Fire said crews were making good progress and that both air tankers assigned to the fire had been placed on hold at the airbase, according to the modbee.com report. Separately, the mymotherlode.com account said the fire's forward progress had been stopped entirely, with some air resources already released from the incident.
Crews were expected to remain on scene for mop-up work, which could affect traffic flow in the area, the outlet's report noted. That mop-up phase typically follows once a fire's spread has been halted, allowing ground crews to extinguish remaining hot spots along the perimeter.
A Familiar Stretch of Road for Wildfire Activity
The Milton Road corridor near the Stanislaus-Calaveras line has seen fire activity before. In an earlier incident, the Waverly Fire grew to 3,500 acres while burning southwest toward Highway 4 near Milton, prompting the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office to evacuate the communities of Milton and Salt Springs Valley and leading the CHP to close Milton Road from Rock Creek Road to Hunt Road and Highway 4.
No such evacuation orders or road closures have been confirmed for the Fine Fire, and the cause of the blaze has not been determined, per the CBS Sacramento report. Fire officials have not released a final containment figure for the current incident.
