Homeless camp fire left unattended sparked 585-acre blaze near Rancho Cordova, authorities say

A fire left unattended at a homeless encampment near Rancho Cordova ignited a blaze that chewed through nearly 600 acres of dry grass Monday afternoon during critical wildfire weather conditions, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials said.

The fire was halted by Monday evening with no damage to nearby homes or businesses, Metro Fire officials said, and a woman was taken into custody on suspicion of starting it.

Firefighters were called to the area of Douglas Road and Sunrise Boulevard shortly after 3 p.m. as flames spread through dead grass around the Mather Golf Course and Mather Lake. Metro Fire in a social media post just after 5:30 p.m. said the fire had burned 285 acres, and in an update just after 7 p.m. said the fire had been “controlled at 585 acres.”

“The fire originated in an unattended camp fire at a homeless encampment along the levee,” Metro Fire wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter. “The person that initiated the fire has been located and placed in custody” by a Metro Fire investigator and rangers with Sacramento County Regional Parks.

The woman taken into custody faces a charge of reckless burning, Metro Fire officials said.

Flames were spreading south toward Kiefer Boulevard bordering Sunrise Boulevard, said Battalion Chief Parker Wilbourn, a Metro Fire spokesman.

Metro Fire said the fire was burning along a canal and that there was no threat to structures. Crews continued to work Monday evening to extinguish hot spots and ensure 100% containment.

The fire burned on the west side of Sunrise Boulevard. Just east of the thoroughfare is Anatolia, a group of neighborhoods in Rancho Cordova that are home to several thousand people. No evacuation orders or warnings were issued, according to fire and law enforcement officials.

The Rancho Cordova Police Department diverted southbound traffic from Sunrise Boulevard onto Douglas Road. Both directions of Sunrise were closed to through traffic but reopened around 7 p.m., the Police Department said in social media posts. Kiefer Boulevard west of Sunrise remained closed at that time, police said.

Large portions of Northern California are under a red flag warning due to dangerous fire weather, including buffeting gales and low humidity, according to National Weather Service’s station in Sacramento. The weather service in a social media post about the Douglas Fire said “critical fire weather conditions” including “gusty north winds” were expected to continue into the evening. Metro Fire said firefighters faced gusts around 30 mph.

The red flag warning is in place through 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The Douglas Fire is about two miles northeast of where the Excelsior Fire, a 900-acre blaze that ignited Sunday, burned before being fully contained by Monday morning. The cause of the Excelsior Fire remained unknown as of Monday evening.