California's Mosquito Fire grows to 41,443 acres

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Northern California were working Sunday to contain the Mosquito Fire as the blaze has nearly doubled in size over the weekend.

The wildfire has burned 41,443 acres in El Dorado and Placer counties, up from about 23,000 acres on Friday, and was 10% contained as of Sunday morning, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said in an update.

"Crews have made significant progress and added containment on the fire's southern edge along Volcano Road with direct dozer and handlines," Cal Fire said. "A large number of resources have been placed on this southern edge to hold the fire and keep it from spreading south to communities such as Quintette."

A total of 32 fire crews including 1,700 personnel, 65 dozers and 80 water tenders have been deployed to combat the blaze.

The wildfire has threatened 5,848 structures with evacuation warnings in place for both El Dorado and Placer counties.

Fire crews look to fully contain the fire by Oct. 15.

"It is very hard to build a solid containment line on a fire in this kind of terrain," Chris Vestal, a spokesperson for the incident said. "There are very steep canyons, steep slopes. It takes a very wide line.