Community meeting in Merced held by Cal Fire about Detwiler Fire gives evacuated residents glimmer of hope

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- For the hundreds of evacuees sitting in the crowd at the Merced Theatre, the same question has been on their minds for the last four days.

Kevin Poe, who lives in Mount Bullion, said, "We want to find out about the evacuations, when we can get back in."

Thursday night, the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office delivered a glimmer of hope. Firefighters said before evacuations can be lifted the power has to be restored and hotspots repeatedly checked to make sure they are out and when families are finally let in it will be a tiered process.

Only certain pockets at a time, and under the watchful eye of law enforcement.

"We can't just allow someone to come back in and then an hour later be knocking on their door and creating more panic, we have to make sure it's safe for them and the crews," said Jerry Fernandez, Cal Fire PIO.

Poe, who left his Mount Bullion home Monday, said he has been preoccupying himself with work to take his mind off the worst case scenario.

"We had our closest neighbor's house, who have a couple of kids, burned to the ground, but three of four of our closest neighbors are good. Just kind of a hit or miss, one house is burned down but the next door neighbors are good."

Firefighters and PG&E workers said because the fire is still active they cannot give people a definitive date as to when power will be restored, or when they will be let back home.

Officials did tell the crowd tankers flew an unprecedented number of air attacks and that the fire has doubled in size almost every day-- a sign of the long process to come.

With the temperatures returning to the triple digits over the weekend the weather is going to make this fire worse. Firefighters are clinging to hope though, because the flames are leaving grassy areas, entering a brush zone, where it doesn't burn as fast.