Mokelumne Wilderness fire contained

Firefighters packed up Friday after spending six days fighting what became a 400-acre wildlife in a wilderness area south of Highway 88.

An abandoned campfire started the fire. It took five crews, two helicopters and $250,000 to put out.

Fighting the Moke Fire was more challenging than fighting other wildfires because it occurred in the Mokelumne Wilderness, a protected forest where vehicles are banned.

The fire was 2 1/2 miles east of Salt Springs Reservoir on the border of Amador and Calaveras counties. Salt Springs Reservoir is about halfway between Pioneer and Ebbetts Pass.

Campfires are not permitted in the area where the abandoned fire was found, said Frank Mosbacher, spokesman for the Eldorado National Forest.

But campfires are not banned outright in Mokelumne Wilderness. Campfires are only banned in the Mokelumne around higher-elevation lakes and in areas considered to be a fire hazard, according to the Amador Ranger Unit of the Eldorado National Forest.

The Mokelumne Wilderness is 105,165 acres managed by the Stanislaus, Eldorado and Toiyabe national forests. Its watersheds drain to the Mokelumne River on the west slope and the Carson River on the east.