LISA: BACK HERE IN OUR AREA, A WILDFIRE IN PLACER COUNTY HAS PICKED BACK UP AGAIN. IT’S GROWING AND HAS NOW CROSSED INTO EL DORADO COUNTY. IT CONTINUES TO FORCE EVACUATIONS IN BOTH COUNTIES. SOME HOMES HAVE ALREADY BEEN DESTROYED. SMOKE FROM THAT FIRE IS DRIFTING AND CAUSING BAD AIR QUALITY MILES AWAY. ANDREA: ON TOP OF THAT, WE’VE GOT THE EXTREME HEAT, AND THAT’S STRAINING THE STATE’S POWER GRID. SO FAR, WE HAVEN’T FACED ROLLING BLACKOUTS, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN TODAY IS ANY LESS IMPORTANT. ROLLING OUTAGES ARE STILL VERY MUCH A POSSIBILITY. RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE BEING URGED TO CONSERVE ENERGY. WE’LL GET TO EACH OF THOSE STORIES ONE BY ONE, BUT WE WANT TO START WITH THE MOSQUITO FIRE. LISA: AS WE MENTIONED, IT’S NOW BURNING IN PLACER AND EL DORADO COUNTIES. THE TOWN OF GEORGETOWN IS NOW UNDER AN EVACUATION WARNING. THAT MEANS YOU SHOULD BE READY TO GO. ANDREA: THE FIRE IS BURNING NEAR THE OXBOW RESERVOIR. THAT’S NORTH EAST FORESTHILL AREA. YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE FIRE IS IN RELATION TO FORESTHILL AND MICHIGAN BLUFF. PLACER COUNTY HAS DECLARED A LOCAL EMERGENCY. LISA: WE CAN SHOW YOU WHAT THE FIRE LOOKS LIKE FROM LIVE COPTER 3. THIS IS FROM THE NOON HOUR. IT’S TOO HOT FOR OUR LIVE COPTER CREW TO FLY RIGHT NOW. THIS IS A VIEW YOU’LL SEEN ONLY HERE ON KCRA 3. YOU CAN SEE THE FLAMES JUST TEARING THROUGH TREES. AS OF THE LAST UPDATE, CAL FIRE SAYS THE FIRE HAS BURNED MORE THAN 8,200 ACRES. THERE ARE NO CONTAINMENT LINES AROUND THE FIRE. NOTICE JUST HOW ROUGH THIS TERRAIN IS. ANDREA: CREWS ARE HITTING THIS FIRE WITH CREWS IN THE AIR. IN THIS VIDEO FROM LIVE COPTER, YOU CAN SEE SEVERAL WATER DROPS BY CAL FIRE HELICOPTERS. AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE CREWS HARD AT WORK ON THE GROUND. HERE YOU CAN SEE DOZERS CLEARING TREES AND BRUSH. CREWS SAY RIGHT NOW, THEY’RE WORKING TO BUILD CONTROL LINES. FIREFIGHTERS ARE ALSO WORKING TO PROTECT HOMES AND BUILDINGS. LISA: THIS IS THE EVACUATION MAP FOR PLACER COUNTY. THE PRPLE AREA SHOWS WHERE THE FIRE IS BURNING. THE RED AREA SHOWS WHERE THERE IS AN EVACUATION ORDER. THAT INCLUDES MICHIGAN BLUFF, BAKER RANCH, AND PARTS OF FORESTHILL. OHTANI FAMILY. AND HAD FAMILY. THE YELLOW AREA SHOWS WHERE THERE IS AN EVACUATION WARNING. THAT INCLUDES TODD VALLEY, KINGS HILL. NOW LET’S LOOK AT EL DORADO COUNTY. ALL OF THIS RED AREA IS UNDER EVACUATION ORDER. THAT INCLUDES VOLCANOVILLE AND STRETCHES DOWN, JUST SHY OF STUMPY MEADOWS LAKE. THESE ORDERS DO NOT INCLUDE GEORGETOWN YET, BUT AN EVACUATION WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THAT AREA. WE HAVE LIVE TEAM COVERAGE, INCLUDING THE EFFORT TO CONTROL THE FLAMES AND THE CONDITIONS CREWS ARE UP AGAINST WHILE THEY’RE OUT THERE. ANDREA: LET’S START WITH KCRA 3’S LYSEE MITRI LIVE IN. WHAT ARE YOU SEEING? REPORTER: WE ARE ON CHICKEN HAWK ROAD. SOUTH OF US IS WHERE YOU ARE SEEING ALL THAT SMOKE. YOU ARE SEEING A CLOUD OF SMOKE THAT IS COMING FROM THE MAIN PART OF THE FIRE. AND THEN CLOSER TO US, THERE IS MORE OF A WHITE CLOUD OF SMOKE LOW IN THE TREES, CLOSER TO WHERE WE ARE, AND THAT IS FROM THE BACK BURNING THAT APPEARS TO BE THE WORK OF FIREFIGHTERS. THEY HAVE BEEN DOING TONS OF BACK BURNING STARTING LAST NIGHT TO KEEP THE FIRE FROM COMING UP THE HILLSIDE. REPORTER: FIREFIGHTERS FACED ANOTHER DAY OF TOUGH CONDITIONS WITH STEEP TERRAIN. AND HOT AND DRY WEATHER. AS THE MOSQUITO FIRE BURNED IN PLACER COUNTY NEAR FORESTHILL. CREWS TRIED TO GET AHEAD OF IT TO CREATE FIRE BREAKS WITH BULLDOZERS. AND BACKFIRING OPERATIONS. SOUTH OF CHICKEN HAWK ROAD, FIREFIGHTERS ARE BURNING OFF THE DRY BRUSH AND GRASS IN THIS AREA, SO IF THE FIRE DOES PUSH UP THIS WAY, IT WON’T HAVE AS MUCH FUEL TO FEED OFF OF. THE FIRE ALREADY DESTROYED SOME HOMES IN MICHIGAN BLUFF AFTER TEARING THROUGH THAT AREA YESTERDAY. THIS WAS THE SCENE AT ABOUT 2:30 ON MICHIGAN BLUFF ROAD NEAR HIGH STREET. AND THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE IN THAT SAME SPOT, FOUR HOURS LATER. CAL FIRE SAYS INSPECTION TEAMS ARE STILL WORKING TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE. THE FIRE IS PUTTING UP A TON OF SMOKE TODAY. NO OFFICIAL COUNT YET AT HOW MANY INSTRUCTIONS -- STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED. WE ARE STILL WAITING ON CAL FIRE TO ASSESS THAT. WE WERE ABLE TO SEE AT LEAST FIVE HOMES. ANDREA: THANKS, LYSEE. LISA: WE CONTINUE OUT TEAM COVERAGE WITH METEOROLOGIST HEATHER WALDMAN TRACKING THE FIRE AND THE CONDITIONS. HEATHER: WE WANT TO START UP WITH A LOOK AT THE RADAR. YOU CAN G C JUST LIKE YESTERDAY, THE FIRE STARTS TO GET GOING IN INTENSITY. YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE WIND IS CARRYING GET, TO THE SOUTHEAST. THIS IS THE VERTICAL VIEW AND YOU CAN SEE HOW HIGH THE SMOKE PLUME IS EXTENDING. THIS SMOKE PLUME WAS 30,000 FEET AN HOUR AGO. RIGHT NOW, 20,000 FEET. IT SHOWS THAT AT LEAST FOR NOW THE FIRE MAY BE BURNING WITH A LITTLE BIT LESS INTENSITY. THIS IS A FIRE MAP FROM YESTERDAY ON THE FIRE WAS 4000 ACRES. TODAY IT WAS MAPPED AT 6200 ACRES AND NOW CLOSER TO A 1000 ACRES. YOU CAN SEE HOW THE FIRE HAS PROGRESSED, MOVING UP CANYON IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. WHAT THIS MAP DOES NOT SHOW YET AS THE FIRE MOVING OVER INTO EL DORADO COUNTY. THIS IS THE RAGE THE FIRE HAS BEEN CLIMBING UP FOR THE PAST HOUR OR SO. THE TERRAIN HAS BEEN THE ONGOING ISSUE FOR GROUND CREW’S, BUT NOW THE WIND MORE OF A FACTOR. THE BREEZE LIKELY HELPED TO PUSH THE FIRE INTO THE EL DORADO COUNTY AREA. LISA: HEATHER, WE’RE GOING TO COME BACK TO YOU IN JUST A SECOND. BUT WE WANT TO SHOW EVERYONE THIS. THE FIRE IS PUTTING UP A HUGE AMOUNT OF SMOKE. THESE ARE PICTURES FROM LIVE COPTER THREE DURING OUR NOON HOUR. IT WAS MUCH HIGHER THAN. ALL OF THAT SMOKE IS CAUSING A MAJOR IMPACT FAR FROM THE FIRE. MILES AND MILES AWAY, THE AIR QUALITY ISN’T GOOD. WHEN YOU ARE OUT DRIVING AROUND, YOU CAN SEE THE HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE OUT IN THE DISTANCE. THE PLUME IS GETTING LOWER. HEATHER: I WANT TO SHOW YOU THE SATELLITE IMAGE. WHEN BIG SO FAR HAVE BEEN COMING FROM THE NORTHWEST SO THE SLIGHT HAZE IS WHERE THE SMOKE KIND OF SETTLED IN EARLY THIS MORNING AND THAT DAMAGES ABOUT FROM FIVE MINUTES AGO. SO IT HAS NOT MOVED MUCH. THIS IS WHERE THE FIRE IS BURNING. YOU CAN SEE THE WIND ARROWS HERE. TONIGHT, THE WIND WILL SHIFT DIRECTION. THE SMOKE SHOULD ONCE AGAIN SETTLE DOWN INTO THE FOOTHILLS. TOMORROW AFTERNOON, WE WILL WATCH FOR THE SMOKE BACK UP TOWARDS LAKE TAHOE AS WELL. THIS IS THE LATEST IMAGE FROM PURPLE TIER WHICH TRACKS AIR QUALITY. ANYWHERE YOU SEE PURPLE, THAT IS WHERE THE AIR IS HAZARDOUS FOR JUST ABOUT ANYBODY. EVEN THOUGH THINGS ARE BETTER IN