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LAKE AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES, Calif. – Cal Fire has issued mandatory evacuation orders for the Cow Mountain Area of Mendocino County (South of SR-20, west of the Mendocino/Lake County line, east of the intersection of North Cow Mountain Road and the Cow Mountain Access Road, and north of the current fire perimeter of the River Fire )

CLEARLAKE, Calif. -- Friday afternoon Clearlake Mayor Bruno Sabatier published a video invitation to evacuees to take advantage of available park space in Clearlake.

Walking through Austin Park, Sabatier reported that the city had just approved opening the parks for evacuees. "They are public lands", he said and went on to say that the city is working on an evacuation center in the city.

"Please, come on down and enjoy yourself", he said adding "it's a safe place to be".

With Twin Pine casino reaching capacity, more space is needed for evacuees, Sabatier said.

 

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. -- At 1:00 p.m. Friday, Cal Fire issued a man mandatory evacuation for the community of Potter Valley area including:

East of Eastside Potter Valley Road and Eel River Road
South of the Eel River
West of Mendocino Lake County line
North of Mid Mountain Road

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. -- Friday mandatory evacuation orders were issued for additional parts of Lake County including the Lucerne, Glenhaven & Clearlake Oaks areas and the Hwy 20-Blue Lakes area.

Due to large numbers of evacuees, Twin Pine Casino has reached capacity and evacuees are being diverted to Middletown or Lower Lake High Schools.

At 10:32 a.m. Friday the Lake County Sheriff's Office ordered a mandatory evacuation for the Lucerne, Glenhaven & Clearlake Oaks areas. Evacuees are advised to proceed South. 

At 11:30 a.m. Friday the Hwy 20 Blue Lakes areas were also putin mandatory evacuation status. Evacuees were advised to leave the area immediately to the North & West.  A shelter has been established at Mendocino College, and additional shelters will be established as necessary. 

At 12:30 p.m. The LCSO reported that Twin Pine had reached capacity and diverted evacuees to Middletown or Lower Lake High Schools.

 

LUCERNE, Calif. -- At 10:32 a.m. Friday the Lake County Sheriff's Office ordered a mandatory evacuation for the Lucerne, Glenhaven & Clearlake Oaks areas. 

Residents are advised to leave immediately, traveling South. 

A staging area has been established at the Twin Pines Casino, where further directions will be provided.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Continuing its pattern of dramatic nighttime growth, the Mendocino Complex marked the end of its first week by scorching nearly 30,000 more acres overnight as it pushed into the footprint of another recent wildland fire.

At the same time, officials gave a new tally of the complex’s destroyed and damaged structures that had risen sharply since the last report.

Cal Fire said Friday morning that the Mendocino Complex of the Ranch and River fires was up to 153,738 acres, with containment rolled back from 39 to 30 percent containment.

The Ranch fire was reported to be 83,890 acres Thursday night, with 33-percent containment. By Friday morning, the updated acreage had ballooned to 112,226 acres, with containment rolling back to 28 percent, according to Cal Fire.

Based on Lake County fire history, the Ranch fire – part of which is located in Mendocino County – is on track to become the largest in Lake County’s recorded history, far outpacing the 83,000-acre Fork fire of 1996.

The River fire remains at 50-percent containment, having grown less than 300 acres overnight to a total of 41,512 acres, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire also released a new damage assessment on the complex, which showed a total of 88 structures destroyed, 41 of them homes. Another 19 structures – 10 of them homes – have been damaged.

Cal Fire said 9,200 structures remain threatened. Numerous evacuations, which are listed here, remain in place.

Both the Ranch and River fires continued to remain active throughout the night, with Cal Fire noting that the Ranch fire made significant and rapid expansion to the east towards the scar of the Pawnee Fire, which burned in and around the Spring Valley Lakes subdivision east of Clearlake Oaks in June.

Radio reports also indicated overnight that firing operations were used successfully to remove vegetation, with the goal of controlling the complex.

On Friday, the plan is for firefighters to continue to prep and defend structures and construct primary and secondary control lines, according to Cal Fire.

Access and weather make many areas of the fire difficult to directly fight fire, so Cal Fire said aircraft support will be utilized when weather and smoke visibility conditions permit.

Cal Fire has pushed back by more than a week the expected date of full containment on the incident, now estimated to be achieved on Aug. 15.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.