PLACERVILLE, Calif. — In front of a packed crowd of evacuees, and even more watching online, Sunday, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office officials said some repopulation efforts near the Crozier Fire have begun.
But for many others, repopulation is still a goal.
The blaze, which sparked Wednesday, was 18% contained at 1,938 acres as of Sunday evening. No structures have burned, and no injuries have been reported.
"I've got two cats and two dogs, and everyone else around here has animals," said Georgetown evacuee Ruby Annis, while sitting in the parking lot of an evacuation shelter in Cameron Park.
Annis's hands have been full, but dealing with several pets at a shelter over the weekend is much easier than the problem she dealt with at her house of 20 years Wednesday morning.
"The highway patrol, with the red lights and the blue lights.... told everybody that they either had to get out or be ready to go," Annis said.
Five days later, Annis and nearly 3,000 of her neighbors are still out of their homes.
"We're all waiting and anticipating that we're going to get home in a few days, but I don't know," said evacuee Ken Howard. "We're all up in the air on it. I guess it's all about the wind direction."
While crews have worked day and night to make progress, fire officials said the blaze still has the potential to spread — even the chance to break containment lines.
"We don't want to get anybody back in their house and then have to re-evacuate them," said Crozier Fire Public Information Officer Dave Lauchner. "This fire started down in a deep canyon, down in a ravine and is in difficult access. The roads going in are one-way roads... The challenge today is going to be with the winds. We definitely have some gusts coming today."
Knowing that threat too well, Annis doesn't mind spending some extra time at the shelter.
"When the winds come up in the afternoon, you know that if there's a fire, it's going to take off," Annis said. "It's like we're on vacation. I mean, aside from the seriousness of it, you have to look at the good positive things."
On Sunday, that positivity came from good news and a good outlook.
"We're running 24-hour aircraft, so the helicopters have the ability to fly at night," Lauchner said. "I want to be cautiously optimistic that we're close. Please be patient, and crews are doing everything we can to get this thing contained."
Watch more from ABC10: California Wildfires: Fire season is just beginning
