The local community is pulling together to help our neighbors in Tahoe recover from the destruction of the Angora Fire. The 3,100 acre fire was contained on Sunday, but not before destroying 254 homes, damaging 25 others and displacing about 3500 people. Amador County residents are holding Angora Fire Donation Drives in three different locations to help the displaced families recover. The Donation Drive will be held Saturday July 7th from 10am to 4pm in three different locations; at the Volcano Communications Tech Center, behind the Pine Grove Park, Calvary Chapel located at 18400 Ridge Road in Pine Grove, and at Detert Park Baseball Field in Jackson.

The Amador Fire Protection District and the Sutter Creek Fire department have released their numbers for the month of June. The numbers remain high. The Amador Fire Protection District Battalion’s responded to 119 incidents in June 2007 in the areas which include Pioneer, Pine Grove and Plymouth. The calls included 63 medical aids & 26 vehicle accidents which accounted for 77 percent of the total incidents.  9 of the incidents were fire related: 2 structure fires, 2 vehicle fire and 5 vegetation fires.  47% of the total calls occurred between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Sutter Creek Fire crews responded to 45 calls of which 66 percent were medical calls, 11 percent fire related calls, and 4 vehicle accident, 2 with injuries

Yesterday afternoon a four car accident occurred on Hwy 88 just outside of the Jackson City limits near Bonnefoy Rd. The accident involved a pile up that occurred after a white Dodge pick up truck, driven by Tim Wilson of Pioneer stopped on Hwy 88 for traffic stopped in front of him. The vehicle behind Wilson, a 1987 Honda Motorcycle driven by Cody Davidson, also of Pioneer, also stopped as did Lorraine Nunez of Pioneer who was directly behind Davidson in her 2002 Toyota Camry. A 16 year old Pioneer girl suddenly observed the traffic in front of her as being stopped and she applied her brakes, however, according to the CHP report written by Officer Melissa Scobee, sue to her unsafe speed she was unable to stop. The teen then slid into Nunez, Nunez the hit Davidson, ejecting him from the motorcycle, and continued forward hitting Wilson as well.  The motorcycle driver, Davidson, was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The accident is under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

Last night the number escalated substantially to nine- in one night. Duke states that the burglaries began as a crime of opportunity with the burglars hitting unlocked vehicles in the Sutter Crest Estates neighborhood. Last night’s rash of break-ins was also opportunistic in nature with the cars unlocked in the Mt Pleasant and Sutter Oaks neighborhoods. The burglars then hit the Nickerson and Badger Street neighborhoods. Duke also reports that in the earlier burglaries in Sutter Crest Estates a vehicle was stolen once the burglars found the keys inside of the car in the ignition. Chief Duke asks that anyone with information contact the Sutter Creek Police Department at 267-5456 or Amador Secret Witness at 223-4900.