SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nearly an inch of rain has helped firefighters gain the upper hand on a wildfire burning in the mountains east of Sacramento, officials said Friday.
The blaze has burned more than 150 square miles of a heavily forested region of the Sierra Nevada that is home to numerous hydroelectric plants and is crisscrossed with power lines and water pipes.
It destroyed a dozen homes near the town of Pollock Pines in El Dorado County and threatened several reservoirs that supply water and electricity to parts of Northern California, but most of the utility infrastructure appears to have been spared, officials said.
A popular lake basin that draws hikers, campers and anglers from throughout Northern California was threatened but escaped largely untouched.
The fire was started Sept. 13 by an arsonist.
The region saw a 20-degree drop in temperatures and a doubling of humidity levels in 24 hours, National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman said. Showers, higher humidity and lower temperatures were expected through today before a warming trend next week.