TUOLUMNE (CBS SF) — The Berkeley Tuolumne Family Camp, a city-owned camp that has operated since 1922, burned in the Rim Fire, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman confirmed.
The wild fire, which has grown to 143,980 acres Monday and is still only 7 percent contained, has burned through the camp, located at 31585 Harden Flat Road near Groveland, according to forest service spokesman Dick Fleishman.
However, firefighters have not had a chance to go in and assess the damage, so it is unknown if any structures survived, Fleishman said.
Another Berkeley Camp, U.C Berkeley’s Lair of the Bear, is not in the line of the fire despite rumors that it had burned down, Fleishman said.
Berkeley Tuolumne Family Camp was evacuated Tuesday along with other camps in the area including San Francisco Recreation and Parks’ Camp Mather.
The fire spread to the very edges of Camp Mather, located at 35250 Mather Road near Groveland, this weekend and some minor damage was reported, according to Phil Ginsburg, the city’s director of Recreation and Parks.
However, no additional damage had been seen as of Sunday afternoon, and all structures remained intact, Ginsburg said in a statement released Sunday evening.
Two firefighting strike teams and a hand team were deployed at Camp Mather for structural defense, Ginsburg said.
Also evacuated earlier this week were the San Francisco-based Jewish summer camp Camp Tawonga, also located near Groveland, and the San Jose Family Camp in the Groveland area.
San Jose officials said on Saturday that fire crews were still defending structures within the city camp, which was only around 7 miles away from where the fire started. As of Thursday, the fire had destroyed several tents on the camp’s grounds, according to San Jose city officials.
More than 2,500 firefighters were battling the Rim Fire, which is burning in the Stanislaus National Forest and has entered the eastern side of Yosemite National Park. It is threatening more than 4,500 homes and has been continued to grow since it started Aug. 17.
The fire has damaged San Francisco power and utility lines in the area and threatens the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which supplies water to San Francisco and much of the Bay Area.
The city has issued assurances that water quality remains good, however, and has maintained power supplies to customers in part by purchasing $600,000 in electricity.
Repair crews were set to return to the Kirkwood Powerhouse today to make preliminary repairs and damage assessments.
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