We’re grateful to report the King Fire was declared fully contained on October 9 and that the Coloma Valley was untouched.
Here at American River Resort, we experienced no adverse effects from the King Fire except for some smoke that blanketed the area a couple of nights.
Tragically, the fire, which started September 13, burned 97,000 acres, mostly in the El Dorado National Forest, destroying 80 structures, injuring 12 people and forcing thousands to evacuate. Costs to fight the fire reached $5 million a day. (Map source: InciWeb)
All of us here are grateful to the 8,000 firefighting men and women for their valiant efforts.
While it will be years before forested lands recover along an 8-mile stretch of the American River upstream from us, no harm is expected to effect the river or its environment downstream from the fire. You can expect the 2015 camping and whitewater rafting season here in Coloma to be as exciting and as scenic as ever.
While the King Fire began as an alleged act of arson, another recent fire in southern California was caused by a careless camper lighting an illegal campfire which got out of hand. While statistics show that wildfires are rarely caused by campfires, campers must be smart and safe with fire, and teach children good habits of campfire safety.