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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Cal Fire Mendocino Complex evening update revealed growth on the Ranch Fire while containment remained at 76 percent.
The Ranch Fire is now at 341,047 acres, a 5,400-acre increase from the a.m. report.
The fire continues to threaten 1050 structures and is burning in four counties, Colusa, Glenn, Lake and Mendocino.
Overall containment on the Mendocino Complex also remains unchanged from the a.m. report at 79% with the River Fire 100 percent contained.
Assigned resources include 3,495 firefighters, 188 engines, 86 water tenders, 21 helicopters, 74 hand crews and 63 dozers.
Sunday the Ranch Fire burned actively in the northeast portion, according to the CalFire situation summary, below.
The fire growth has been moving north/northeast for the past several days. The northwest portion of the fire had backing activity but was holding to the road system.
Firing operations are planned for Sunday evening as weather permits. Warming and drying trend continues with near single digit afternoon relative humidity, along with very poor recoveries.
Line construction and mop up continue with hand crews and dozers. Helicopters continue to be a vital tool in this firefighting effort. Two helibases and two mobile retardant plants are located on the fire lines of the Ranch Fire.
The southern portion of the fire remains in patrol status as crews continue with suppression repair and mop up. The River Fire had no movement. Suppression repair along with patrol will continue on the River Fire.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s school districts are preparing to welcome students back to classes this week, with some schools having been delayed due to the Mendocino Complex.
The Lake County Office of Education and district offices have confirmed the following start dates for the 2018-19 school year:
– Aug. 20: Konocti Unified, Middletown Unified;
– Aug. 22: Lakeport Unified, Lucerne Elementary, Upper Lake Unified;
– Sept. 4: Kelseyville Unified.
The Mendocino Complex delayed the start of school for the Konocti, Lakeport, Lucerne and Upper Lake districts, where facilities have had to be thoroughly cleaned over the past few weeks, as Lake County News has reported.
Middletown and Kelseyville’s start dates remain unchanged, officials reported.
In Upper Lake, Superintendent Dr. Giovanni Annous reported that air scrubbers were installed in school facilities to restore air quality to normal levels.
Earlier this month, the district board decided to delay the start of school one week to Aug. 22.
Annous said that after analyzing the situation and potential impacts of changes to the opening of the school year, the district decided that the Aug. 22 start date “will be in the best interest of our students, staff, parents and community.”
He added, “We understand that in some unique situations some students, parents and teachers might have some undue burden and will need some accommodation in the first few days. The district will work with them individually to address and support their needs.”
School officials also are preparing to help students cope in the aftermath of the Mendocino Complex, the largest wildland fire incident in state history.
On Tuesday, administrators, counselors, school psychologists and board members from around Lake County attended “Trauma Informed Approaches to Support Lake County Students,” the Lake County Office of Education reported.
The presenters were Mandy Corbin, administrator, and Mary Champion, psychologist, from Sonoma County Office of Education.
The Lake County Office of Education said they covered how to support ourselves and empower others and provided resources for the sites to share with staff and students.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Operation Tango Mike announced that Clearlake Callayomi Masonic Lodge No. 183, located at 7100 South Center Drive in Clearlake, has chosen to partner with the troop support mission.
The lodge hosts monthly breakfasts on the third Sunday from 8 to 11 a.m., and will accept donations of goods or funds on behalf of Operation Tango Mike.
Choose your breakfast from a large menu including, eggs (any style), omelets, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, hot cakes, breakfast meat, toast, juice and coffee.
Breakfast is served from 8 to 11 a.m. The cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under age 6 may eat for free and are served a special “kid’s” breakfast.
Operation Tango Mike achieved a milestone in March, having shipped more than 20,000 care packages to deployed military personnel.
The mission continues and relies on donations and fundraising.
On Saturday, the Lakeside Car and Boat Show, benefitting Operation Tango Mike, was held at Lakeport’s Library Park.
Donations are always welcome and may be made at Umpqua Bank in Lakeport or Kelseyville, by mail at 5216 Piner Court, Kelseyville, CA 954561 or by PayPal at www.operationtangomike.org.
For further information call 707-349-2838.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – U.S. Forest Service officials announced that the Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, team is getting established in Upper Lake to start working on its assessment and recommendations to lessen immediate hazards to public resources from effects of the Ranch fire.
The BAER team is made up of specialists from various disciplines; including hydrologists, soil scientists, geologists, road engineers, ecologists, botanists and archaeologists.
Team members have already started assessing the fire area to address potential risks related to life and property, water quality and critical plant and wildlife habitat.
“I'm glad to have some of the most talented resource specialists here to help us. Team members have a challenge ahead, they have our support and we're grateful they are here,” Upper Lake District Ranger Frank Aebly said.
The purpose of the BAER assessment is to analyze fire effects on soils and watersheds, determine the potential for negative effects, and consider possible treatment options.
The threat to life and property is always the No. 1 concern and is the first focus of the burned area assessment. Forest roads are also a major concern from flooding and rocks falling onto the road bed.
Soil productivity, water quality, and cultural resources are at risk when wildland fires are followed by large storms, particularly during the first and second year after the fire.
The loss of natural vegetative cover allows water to runoff across bare soils with increased velocity. Fire also induces water repellency of varying degrees, reducing water infiltration, and increasing runoff.
The net result under extreme conditions is a loss of soil, a loss of water control, and significant risk of floods and debris flows downstream of the fire.
The Ranch fire started July 27 approximately eight miles northeast of Ukiah. As of Saturday night, it was estimated at 334,770 acres and 76-percent contained. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Besieged by another fire and facing growing number of homes in need of repair and rebuilding Lake County, Habitat for Humanity is in urgent need of qualified construction supervisors, home repair specialists and construction volunteers.
In order to help Lake County get back on its feet, the organization needs donations in order to continue the rebuilding efforts for those in need.
Contact 707-994-1100, Extension 103, to volunteer or stop by the office at 15312 Lakeshore Dr. Clearlake for employment applications today.
Donations can be mailed to PO Box 1830 Lower Lake, CA 95457.
Additionally, if you are a low income homeowner or renter who lost your home in any of Lake County’s fires, stop by the office or call 707-994-1100, Extension 106, to discuss qualifications for our homeownership program and to receive an application package.
NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover.
Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying" – meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it – skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."
No one will know how the rover is doing until it speaks. But the team notes there’s reason to be optimistic: They’ve performed several studies on the state of its batteries before the storm, and temperatures at its location.
Because the batteries were in relatively good health before the storm, there’s not likely to be too much degradation.
And because dust storms tend to warm the environment – and the 2018 storm happened as Opportunity’s location on Mars entered summer – the rover should have stayed warm enough to survive.
What will engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, be looking for – and what will those signs mean for recovery efforts?
A tau below 2
Dust storms on Mars block sunlight from reaching the surface, raising the level of a measurement called "tau."
The higher the tau, the less sunlight is available; the last tau measured by Opportunity was 10.8 on June 10. To compare, an average tau for its location on Mars is usually 0.5.
JPL engineers predict that Opportunity will need a tau of less than 2.0 before the solar-powered rover will be able to recharge its batteries.
A wide-angle camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will watch for surface features to become visible as the skies clear. That will help scientists estimate the tau.
Updates on the dust storm and tau can be found here.
Two ways to listen for Opportunity
Several times a week, engineers use NASA’s Deep Space Network, which communicates between planetary probes and Earth, to attempt to talk with Opportunity.
The massive DSN antennas ping the rover during scheduled "wake-up" times, and then search for signals sent from Opportunity in response.
In addition, JPL's radio science group uses special equipment on DSN antennas that can detect a wider range of frequencies.
Each day, they record any radio signal from Mars over most of the rover's daylight hours, then search the recordings for Opportunity's "voice."
Rover faults out
When Opportunity experiences a problem, it can go into so-called "fault modes" where it automatically takes action to maintain its health.
Engineers are preparing for three key fault modes if they do hear back from Opportunity.
– Low-power fault: engineers assume the rover went into low-power fault shortly after it stopped communicating on June 10. This mode causes the rover to hibernate, assuming that it will wake up at a time when there's more sunlight to let it recharge.
– Clock fault: critical to operating while in hibernation is the rover's onboard clock. If the rover doesn't know what time it is, it doesn't know when it should be attempting to communicate. The rover can use environmental clues, like an increase in sunlight, to make assumptions about the time.
– Uploss fault: when the rover hasn't heard from Earth in a long time, it can go into "uploss" fault – a warning that its communication equipment may not be functioning. When it experiences this, it begins to check the equipment and tries different ways to communicate with Earth.
What happens if they hear back?
After the first time engineers hear from Opportunity, there could be a lag of several weeks before a second time. It's like a patient coming out of a coma: It takes time to fully recover. It may take several communication sessions before engineers have enough information to take action.
The first thing to do is learn more about the state of the rover. Opportunity's team will ask for a history of the rover's battery and solar cells and take its temperature.
If the clock lost track of time, it will be reset. The rover would take pictures of itself to see whether dust might be caked on sensitive parts, and test actuators to see if dust slipped inside, affecting its joints.
Once they've gathered all this data, the team would take a poll about whether they're ready to attempt a full recovery.
Not out of the woods
Even if engineers hear back from Opportunity, there's a real possibility the rover won’t be the same.
The rover's batteries could have discharged so much power – and stayed inactive so long – that their capacity is reduced. If those batteries can’t hold as much charge, it could affect the rover’s continued operations. It could also mean that energy-draining behavior, like running its heaters during winter, could cause the batteries to brown out.
Dust isn’t usually as much of a problem. Previous storms plastered dust on the camera lenses, but most of that was shed off over time. Any remaining dust can be calibrated out.
Do you miss Opportunity as much as the rover's team? You can write a message sharing your thoughts here.
Read more about Opportunity at https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/highlights/.