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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An early Monday morning fire damaged structures at the former Outrageous Waters water park in Clearlake.
Firefighters arrived at the scene of the fire at the former park, located on Old Highway 53, at about 2:20 a.m. Monday, according to Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta.
By the time firefighters arrived, the remaining structures – including the main building – were well involved, Sapeta said.
Sapeta said Northshore Fire and South Lake County Fire provided mutual aid to Lake County Fire. Lakeport Fire was sending its ladder truck which was canceled en route.
There was concern that the fire could spread the fire to nearby vegetation. “We had some pretty good winds on it at first,” Sapeta said.
He said firefighters were able to contain the fire to the buildings without it spreading.
Firefighters remained on scene until about 8 a.m. Monday, Sapeta said.
There are a large number of homeless who stay in the area, and Sapeta said a search didn't find any signs of anyone.
The fire's cause is under investigation by the Clearlake Police Department and Lake County Fire, Sapeta said.
The park was closed more than a decade ago and the property has since been purchased by a developer. A representative did not immediately respond to an email sent by Lake County News on Monday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With tens of thousands of Lake County residents still out of power due to a public safety power shutoff implemented on Saturday, Pacific Gas and Electric said it intends to go forward with another weather-driven shutoff starting early Tuesday morning.
The company reported after 11 p.m. Monday that that it was going forward with the new shutoff ahead of a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service that's due to go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and continue until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
For Lake County, the shutoff is expected to be implemented at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, but the times could be earlier by at least a few hours based on past experience with the company's shutoff process.
Lake is among 29 counties with a total of 596,000 customer accounts PG&E said it expects will be impacted.
In Lake County, the specific customer number is approximately 37,441, with 2,170 medical baseline customers – the exact numbers impacted by the shutoff that started this weekend and essentially all of the county's population.
PG&E said that as of its Monday night report 554,600 customer accounts, or 57 percent of the 970,000 accounts it turned off power to over the weekend had power restored.
On Monday evening, nearly 400 Lake County residents replied to an impromptu poll on the Lake County News Facebook page about power restoration. A review of the responses found no reports of power restoration.
That agreed with information provided on Monday evening from officials with the county of Lake, who said they had no reports of power restoration for county residents.
The likelihood going into the next event is that many customers won't see power restored, or that it will be on for a very short time before the Tuesday morning outage is implemented.
An “all-clear” to begin inspections for damaged power equipment may not be given until Wednesday morning, according to local officials, meaning that power could remain out in parts of the county until Friday or later in some remote areas.
The planned outage prompted all of Lake County's school districts to announce that classes on Tuesday were canceled.
PG&E will have three community resource centers available for people to get water, charge devices and use wifi during the outages, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following locations: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; and Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The company reported after 11 p.m. Monday that that it was going forward with the new shutoff ahead of a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service that's due to go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and continue until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
For Lake County, the shutoff is expected to be implemented at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, but the times could be earlier by at least a few hours based on past experience with the company's shutoff process.
Lake is among 29 counties with a total of 596,000 customer accounts PG&E said it expects will be impacted.
In Lake County, the specific customer number is approximately 37,441, with 2,170 medical baseline customers – the exact numbers impacted by the shutoff that started this weekend and essentially all of the county's population.
PG&E said that as of its Monday night report 554,600 customer accounts, or 57 percent of the 970,000 accounts it turned off power to over the weekend had power restored.
On Monday evening, nearly 400 Lake County residents replied to an impromptu poll on the Lake County News Facebook page about power restoration. A review of the responses found no reports of power restoration.
That agreed with information provided on Monday evening from officials with the county of Lake, who said they had no reports of power restoration for county residents.
The likelihood going into the next event is that many customers won't see power restored, or that it will be on for a very short time before the Tuesday morning outage is implemented.
An “all-clear” to begin inspections for damaged power equipment may not be given until Wednesday morning, according to local officials, meaning that power could remain out in parts of the county until Friday or later in some remote areas.
The planned outage prompted all of Lake County's school districts to announce that classes on Tuesday were canceled.
PG&E will have three community resource centers available for people to get water, charge devices and use wifi during the outages, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following locations: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; and Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Pacific Gas and Electric intending to shut off power again on Tuesday to communities due to another wind event, Lake County's schools and community colleges reported that classes have been canceled.
PG&E said late Monday that it intends to cut power to Lake County at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, ahead of another red flag warning.
Hundreds of Lake County residents reported on Lake County News' Facebook page on Monday evening that they still hadn't had power restored from the current public safety power shutoff.
Lake County News checked social media messages from districts and separately confirmed with the Lake County Office of Education that all school districts would be closed on Tuesday.
The rule of thumb for districts has been that if they have power at 6 a.m., they will hold classes. But with power expected to be shut off so soon after that deadline, they have opted to close.
Both Mendocino College and Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus in Clearlake were closed on Monday due to the ongoing shutoff that began Saturday.
Steve Wylie, executive dean of Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus, confirmed that the campus there will be closed on Tuesday due to the newly scheduled outage.
Mendocino College also confirmed on Facebook that classes are canceled on Tuesday.
Current estimates are that an all-clear from the shutoff could come on Wednesday morning, with PG&E's goal being to restore power within 48 hours of the all-clear pending inspections and repair to any electrical equipment damage.
Schools around the county lost days two to three days each due to the public safety power shutoff that took place beginning on Oct. 9, as Lake County News has reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
PG&E said late Monday that it intends to cut power to Lake County at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, ahead of another red flag warning.
Hundreds of Lake County residents reported on Lake County News' Facebook page on Monday evening that they still hadn't had power restored from the current public safety power shutoff.
Lake County News checked social media messages from districts and separately confirmed with the Lake County Office of Education that all school districts would be closed on Tuesday.
The rule of thumb for districts has been that if they have power at 6 a.m., they will hold classes. But with power expected to be shut off so soon after that deadline, they have opted to close.
Both Mendocino College and Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus in Clearlake were closed on Monday due to the ongoing shutoff that began Saturday.
Steve Wylie, executive dean of Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus, confirmed that the campus there will be closed on Tuesday due to the newly scheduled outage.
Mendocino College also confirmed on Facebook that classes are canceled on Tuesday.
Current estimates are that an all-clear from the shutoff could come on Wednesday morning, with PG&E's goal being to restore power within 48 hours of the all-clear pending inspections and repair to any electrical equipment damage.
Schools around the county lost days two to three days each due to the public safety power shutoff that took place beginning on Oct. 9, as Lake County News has reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTH COAST, Calif. – As containment grew on a Mendocino County fire on Monday, there also were increasing concerns that the fire could jump its lines and threaten the Potter Valley community.
The Burris fire remained at 350 acres with containment up to 50 percent on Monday evening, Cal Fire said.
The fire began on Sunday afternoon in the area of Potter Valley Road and Highway 20 and prompted an evacuation warning for Highway 20 south to Highway 175, east of the Russian River and west of the Lake County line.
Cal Fire said the fire is threatening 40 structures, with none so far been damaged.
However, an impending Tuesday morning red flag warning and a potential for the fire to jump the lines at the Cold Creek Compost Facility spurred the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to issue an evacuation warning Monday night for the Potter Valley area.
If the winds push the fire beyond its contained edge, a full evacuation order could be called for Potter Valley, the sheriff's office said.
The agency urged residents to be prepared to leave immediately should an order be called.
Cal Fire said that approximately 1,008 firefighters are assigned to the incident, along with 77 engines, six water tenders, three helicopters, 15 hand crews and six dozers.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The Burris fire remained at 350 acres with containment up to 50 percent on Monday evening, Cal Fire said.
The fire began on Sunday afternoon in the area of Potter Valley Road and Highway 20 and prompted an evacuation warning for Highway 20 south to Highway 175, east of the Russian River and west of the Lake County line.
Cal Fire said the fire is threatening 40 structures, with none so far been damaged.
However, an impending Tuesday morning red flag warning and a potential for the fire to jump the lines at the Cold Creek Compost Facility spurred the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to issue an evacuation warning Monday night for the Potter Valley area.
If the winds push the fire beyond its contained edge, a full evacuation order could be called for Potter Valley, the sheriff's office said.
The agency urged residents to be prepared to leave immediately should an order be called.
Cal Fire said that approximately 1,008 firefighters are assigned to the incident, along with 77 engines, six water tenders, three helicopters, 15 hand crews and six dozers.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the launch of a new state website with tools and resources for Californians who have been impacted by wildfires and utility-directed power shutoffs.
The website combines emergency response, recovery and resilience information into a single place for easy access by users.
It is a one-stop portal that includes local and state resources, health services, shelters and housing, preparedness information and more.
“California continues to rise to the challenge of power shutoffs and natural disasters,” said Governor Newsom. “Response.ca.gov provides Californians with a unified portal for critical information during this state of emergency. This site will continuously be updated as needed to provide Californians with the resources they need.”
Response.ca.gov provides Californians with information and resources for current incidents, transportation impacts, vital health services information, shelter and housing locations, unemployment assistance and other state information.
The website also directs users to public safety power shutoff information and preparedness tips. As incidents continue to evolve, the portal will be updated to reflect the latest information and any additional resources the state may develop.
The governor on Sunday declared a statewide emergency due to the dangerous weather conditions.
Then on Monday, Newsom joined the state’s top fire and emergency management officials to provide an update on statewide fire and wind conditions, and announced that California has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant to help ensure the availability of resources to fight the Getty fire.
California has also secured Fire Management Assistance Grants to bolster the response to the Kincade and Tick fires, for which the governor previously declared a state of emergency in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties.
Over the course of the past week, the governor has met with emergency responders, health officials, residents and local leaders in Petaluma, Napa, Geyserville and Los Angeles, and held public briefings regarding the ongoing fire threats and the need to hold utilities accountable for the consequences of their power shutoff decisions.
The governor has also announced a $75 million program for state and local governments to mitigate the impacts of power shutoffs, and unveiled a series of new partnerships and new tools to help secure medically vulnerable populations during these events.
Under Gov. Newsom’s leadership, California passed AB 1054, wildfire safety and utility reform legislation that expands the California Public Utility Commission's ability to hold utilities accountable for their safety record – a central part of the governor’s wildfire safety actions.
The legislation created a new wildfire safety division at the CPUC and a board of independent expert advisors to more effectively regulate the safety of publicly owned utilities.
The law mandated that utilities tie executive compensation to safety performance, invest $5 billion in safety improvements without profit, and go through a new yearly wildfire safety review and certification process.
It also requires new inspections of utility electrical equipment. Under the law, utilities must create a wildfire safety committee in their corporate board, and provide direct board-level safety reporting to the CPUC.
The website combines emergency response, recovery and resilience information into a single place for easy access by users.
It is a one-stop portal that includes local and state resources, health services, shelters and housing, preparedness information and more.
“California continues to rise to the challenge of power shutoffs and natural disasters,” said Governor Newsom. “Response.ca.gov provides Californians with a unified portal for critical information during this state of emergency. This site will continuously be updated as needed to provide Californians with the resources they need.”
Response.ca.gov provides Californians with information and resources for current incidents, transportation impacts, vital health services information, shelter and housing locations, unemployment assistance and other state information.
The website also directs users to public safety power shutoff information and preparedness tips. As incidents continue to evolve, the portal will be updated to reflect the latest information and any additional resources the state may develop.
The governor on Sunday declared a statewide emergency due to the dangerous weather conditions.
Then on Monday, Newsom joined the state’s top fire and emergency management officials to provide an update on statewide fire and wind conditions, and announced that California has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant to help ensure the availability of resources to fight the Getty fire.
California has also secured Fire Management Assistance Grants to bolster the response to the Kincade and Tick fires, for which the governor previously declared a state of emergency in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties.
Over the course of the past week, the governor has met with emergency responders, health officials, residents and local leaders in Petaluma, Napa, Geyserville and Los Angeles, and held public briefings regarding the ongoing fire threats and the need to hold utilities accountable for the consequences of their power shutoff decisions.
The governor has also announced a $75 million program for state and local governments to mitigate the impacts of power shutoffs, and unveiled a series of new partnerships and new tools to help secure medically vulnerable populations during these events.
Under Gov. Newsom’s leadership, California passed AB 1054, wildfire safety and utility reform legislation that expands the California Public Utility Commission's ability to hold utilities accountable for their safety record – a central part of the governor’s wildfire safety actions.
The legislation created a new wildfire safety division at the CPUC and a board of independent expert advisors to more effectively regulate the safety of publicly owned utilities.
The law mandated that utilities tie executive compensation to safety performance, invest $5 billion in safety improvements without profit, and go through a new yearly wildfire safety review and certification process.
It also requires new inspections of utility electrical equipment. Under the law, utilities must create a wildfire safety committee in their corporate board, and provide direct board-level safety reporting to the CPUC.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Thanks to a reduction in winds in the fire area, firefighters succeeded in improving containment on the Kincade fire on Monday, but concerns about its potential movement into southern Lake County resulted in an expanded evacuation warning for that area.
Cal Fire said that the Kincade fire grew by another 8,000 acres during the day on Monday, reaching a total of 74,324 acres.
At the same time, containment tripled to 15 percent, with Cal Fire continuing to estimate full containment by Nov. 7.
Ongoing damage assessments confirmed that 123 structures – 57 residences, five commercial and 61 other types – have been destroyed in Sonoma County. Cal Fire said an additional 20 structures have been damaged, including 12 homes, one commercial building and seven other structures.
Cal Fire said the Kincade fire continues to threaten approximately 90,015 structures – more than 80,400 of them homes – across Sonoma County.
Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said the improved conditions on Monday allowed officials to reduce evacuation orders to warnings for much of western Sonoma County.
However, at the same time the fire’s behavior led authorities to expand the evacuation warning in southwestern Lake County, specifically for all residents in the Middletown area south of Butts Canyon Road and Highway 175 to the Napa/Sonoma County lines, including Middletown proper, the Middletown Rancheria, Dry Creek area, all roads off Highway 175 between Middletown and McKinley Drive as well as all of Butts Canyon Road including side streets.
The Cobb Mountain area also remains under that evacuation order, issued Friday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.
Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox said during a Monday evening briefing that those evacuation warnings for south Lake County were triggered by fire behavior.
He said a lot of effort is being focused on the fire’s eastern flank in order to protect Lake County and its residents from the potential spread of the fire.
Fire Chief Mike Blankenheim, the incident commander for Cal Fire, said overall the Kincade fire didn’t make a big run on Monday, with little wind but conditions remaining dry.
He said the fire burned very actively throughout the afternoon in the Mount St. Helena area, and that’s where they focused air tankers, the very large air tanker and helicopters.
Blankenheim said they are doing everything they can to stop the fire from running into Lake County, and working on robust contingencies for Lake County and Calistoga in Napa County if the fire should reach those areas.
The fire ran into the Shiloh Ridge area near Windsor on Sunday, and Blankenheim said firefighters went direct and worked hard on that part of the fire on Monday.
Now, they are getting ready for another wind event expected to arrive on Tuesday, which has led to Pacific Gas and Electric to say it is planning another possible public safety power shutoff, as many customers impacted by the current shutoff still don’t have power restored.
Ryan Walburn of the National Weather Service said there were better conditions on Monday with less wind. However, a new red flag warning is expected to go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and continuing until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
He said on Tuesday there will be a gradual ramp up, with winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour with gusts of up to 30 miles per hour from the northeast.
Those northeast winds are expected to come in off of Mount St. Helena and Cobb Mountain and move across the fire area, Walburn said.
In the afternoon, the warmest and driest period of the day, Walburn said to expect 30 to 40 miles per hour winds, with gusts in the 50-mile-per-hour range, also out of the northeast, which will push the fire back into its footprint.
The most critical period will be on Tuesday night, when winds are expected to peak through midnight before easing on Wednesday, he said.
While it’s not on the magnitude of the weekend wind event, Walburn urged people not to downplay the incoming weather system, as it is still significant.
Walburn added that they don’t see any upcoming wind events in the forecast.
Email Elizabeth Larson at