Highway 41 reopened near Sugar Pine as containment rises on Railroad Fire

SUGAR PINE, Calif. (KFSN) -- More residents who live near the Railroad Fire in Madera County were allowed to return to their homes.

Highway 41 reopened Saturday afternoon, and around the same time, so did the road that leads to the small community of Sugar Pine for residents.

Patrick Kilby and his family returned at around 1:30 p.m. after staying in Oakhurst for 12 days. Their home is smoky, so they'll be cleaning and doing lots of laundry.

"Fire surrounded us, but didn't seem to get on to the property, we don't know why, it was pretty miraculous," he said.

Patrick and his wife also work at Sugar Pine Christian Camps. He says they and other staffers will work as hard as they can to reopen the camp to guests - hopefully by later this month.

"All the stuff that we're doing at our house, we have to do at 50 cabins, you know, at camp," Patrick said.

"Oh yeah, it was definitely scary," said Jason Torlano of Sugar pine. "The firefighters did a great job saving our community."

Torlano says he was one of two people that did not evacuate Sugar Pine. He kept an eye out for spot fires, helped firefighters any way he could, and kept in touch with neighbors and his worried wife.

"I (was) very concerned, very nervous about him because I (knew) the fire was getting crazy," Jessa Solon said.

But now they're back together, thanks to the brave firefighters who saved Sugar Pine. Fire officials also expect to let residents of Cedar Valley back in by the end of the weekend.

The Railroad Fire has burned more than 12,000 acres and is now 64 percent contained.