You may have wanted to forget about it as containment news last week sounded promising, but the massive Rim Fire over at Yosemite is still burning and smoldering, with about 20 percent of it left to contain. Evacuation orders have been lifted, however, and city workers have gone in to re-test the water at Hetch Hetchy (it's still OK), and figure out how much damage was done to our power supplies.
The full damage assessment is not yet complete, as Bay City News reports, but we're looking at a price tag of $20 to $30 million in damages to the powerhouses and transmission lines in the area of O'Shaughnessy Dam, including the $900,000 the city spent on backup power while two of three powerhouses temporarily went offline. One remains shut down, along with one turbine.
The total cost of fighting the fire has now hit $100 million.
Full containment of the fire, which is 80 percent contained up from 75 percent last week, is expected by September 20. Highway 120 into Yosemite has now reopened, but firefighters were continuing to battle spot fires along Tioga Road in Yosemite on Monday.
The Rim Fire is officially the third biggest wildfire in California history. It began August 17 with one idiot hunter's out-of-control campfire, and went on to burn 253,332 acres and counting. The culprit has still not been publicly identified, but polish up those pitchforks...
[BCN/Appeal]
[KTLA]
[LAT]
