How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – An investigation conducted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force has resulted in six arrests and the seizure of methamphetamine, processed marijuana, marijuana plants, firearms and US currency.
In July narcotics detectives identified and seized more than 3,300 outdoor marijuana plants that were concealed within native vegetation on a large land parcel located in the 8000 block of South State Highway 29 in Kelseyville, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
Brooks said the marijuana plants were located during routine overflight missions, used to help identify illegal marijuana grow sites.
On Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m., narcotics detectives served a search warrant at a residence, which was formerly known as Red Lava Wine Tasting and also located in the 8000 block of South State Highway 29 in Kelseyville, Brooks said.
Six subjects fled the scene, where Brooks said detectives located approximately 6 pounds of methamphetamine, 9 pounds of processed marijuana, a loaded SKS pistol grip rifle, an unassembled M-4 rifle and more than $80,000 in US currency.
Five of the subjects who fled were apprehended; Brooks said one of them was armed with a loaded .38 caliber revolver that he attempted to discard during a foot pursuit.
Brooks said another subject arrived during the investigation and narcotics detectives determined he was associated with the crime scene and was subsequently arrested.
During a search of the residence, detectives located a room which was being used to cultivate more than 100 indoor marijuana plants. Brooks said they also located a second grow site outside, which contained 38 marijuana plants.
Detectives located approximately $22,000 in US currency on two of the suspects who had the cash in their pockets, Brooks said. Approximately $60,000 in US currency was located in a vehicle parked at the residence. The US currency was seized pending asset forfeiture proceedings.
Detectives estimated that the 6 pounds of methamphetamine had a street value of more than $272,000 in Lake County when sold in personal use quantities, according to Brooks.
Brooks said the subjects arrested included 41-year-old Richard Joseph Gamble of Staten Island, New York; 46-year-old Prudencio Gerardo Najar-Elias of Santa Rosa; Diego Garcia, 26, of Ukiah; Arnoldo Mendoza-Tellez, 25, of Clearlake; 18-year-old Jamie Sanchez Ruiz of Los Angeles; and Javier Guiterrez Torres, 39, of Kelseyville.
They were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, Brooks said.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
LUCERNE, Calif. – Firefighters have contained a small wildland fire that resulted from a vehicle crash on Thursday afternoon.
The fire was first reported just after 4:30 p.m. on Highway 20 and Paradise Valley east of Lucerne.
A gray sedan had crashed into an embankment and subsequently caught fire. The driver was able to get out of the car, and had minor injuries from the crash, according to initial reports from the California Highway Patrol.
Northshore Fire units arriving at the scene said the car was fully involved and had spread to wildland.
Authorities quickly closed down Highway 20 while Northshore Fire and Cal Fire worked to contain the blaze, according to radio reports.
The fire had a light west wind on it and was starting to make what firefighters at the scene called a “significant” run up the hill.
Ground and air resources – including air attack, tankers and a helicopter – launched an aggressive attack and quickly made good progress, according to reports from incident command.
Size estimates from the scene put the fire at two acres.
Shortly after 6 p.m. the fire was reported to be fully contained, with a few hours of mop up anticipated, and radio reports indicated the highway was reopened just after 6:30 p.m.
Some Northshore Fire and Cal Fire units on the incident pulled away to respond to a report that came in just after 6 p.m. of a small fire within the perimeter of a fire that had occurred last week on Bartlett Springs Road in the hills above Lucerne.
That second fire on Bartlett Springs Road was reported to be a 100-foot by 100-foot spot when firefighters arrived about a half-hour later, with the fire contained at about 7 p.m., with mop up taking place over the next few hours.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Despite continued hot conditions, Californians surpassed June’s conservation rate and reduced water use by 31.3 percent during July, exceeding Gov. Jerry Brown Jr.’s 25-percent mandate for a second consecutive month since the new emergency conservation regulation took effect.
For June and July, the cumulative statewide savings was 29.5 percent.
Saving water in the hot summer months is critical to meeting the state’s overall 25 percent savings goal through February 2016, as the summer is when the greatest amount of water is traditionally used, particularly on outdoor ornamental landscapes. State officials urged residential water users to keep up their efforts to conserve.
“Californians’ response to the severity of the drought this summer is now in high gear and shows that they get that we are in the drought of our lives. This isn’t your mother’s drought or your grandmother’s drought, this is the drought of the century,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “Millions of conscientious Californians are the real heroes here – each stepping up to help local water resources last longer in the face of an historic drought with no certain end date.”
July’s water savings moved the state 228,940 acre-feet – or 74.6 billion gallons – closer to the goal of saving 1.2 million acre-feet by February 2016, as called for by the governor in his April 1 executive order.
Cumulative savings for June and July is 414,800 acre-feet, or 35 percent of the savings goal.
Conservation programs put in place during the late spring and early summer months by most of the state’s water suppliers are now in full swing, yielding dramatic reductions in water use and heightened water use awareness.
With dry conditions forecast to continue through November, the focus remains not only on enhancing current efforts but on encouraging suppliers that are behind to make the commitment to conservation and meet or beat their targets.
The emergency water conservation regulation requires urban water suppliers to provide monthly water use reports to the State Water Board.
Urban water suppliers are expected to meet, or exceed, their individual conservation standard starting in June and continuing through February 2016.
The year 2013 serves as the baseline for determining water savings statewide. The current report is posted here.
While most of Lake County's water suppliers have 3,000 connections or less and so are not required to do this monthly reporting, Lucerne is grouped into California Water Service Co.'s Redwood Valley District, which is one of the agencies that must to submit its information monthly.
In July, the Redwood Valley District – which served 3,636 people – had a cumulative savings of 38.9 percent, well above the 16 percent conservation standard set for it, according to state records.
July highlights
The percent of water saved by the State’s large urban water agency suppliers increased from 27.3 percent in June to 31.3 percent in July, in same-month water use comparisons of 2015 to 2013.
A four percentage point increase in conservation is exceptional considering July is historically one of the highest water-consuming months in California.
The amount of water saved in July 2015 (74.6 billion gallons) is more than four times the amount of water saved in July 2014 (18.0 billion gallons), when the State’s voluntary 20 percent conservation goal was in effect.
Statewide, the average residential water use was 98 gallons per capita per day for July 2015, a similar level of residential water use as reported in June 2015 (98.1 residential gallons per capita per day, or R-GPCD), but significantly lower than residential water use in July 2014 (statewide average R-GPCD of 132.9).
Some 290 water suppliers, serving 29.2 million people, met or exceeded their conservation standard in July, up from 265 water suppliers in June. 98 water suppliers exceeded their conservation standard by 10 percent, while 67 water suppliers exceeded their conservation standard by 15 percent or more.
Compliance statistics
July brought big improvements for the water suppliers that were significantly behind the conservation curve in June.
With 402 water supplier reports submitted for July, 290 suppliers (72 percent) met, or were within 1 percent of, their conservation standard; 59 suppliers (15 percent) were between 1 and 5 percent of meeting their conservation standard; and 49 suppliers (12 percent) were between 5 and 15 percent of meeting their conservation standard.
There were only four suppliers (one percent) in July reporting that they were more than 15 percent away from meeting their conservation standard – a 75 percent drop in the number of suppliers reporting that they were this far away from meeting their standard in June.
All water suppliers that did not meet their June conservation standard were contacted following the release of the June data. Many were required to provide information about their existing conservation programs and the steps they are taking to boost conservation.
Conservation orders are being issued to those water suppliers that are far behind and do not have the programs in place to meet their standard. A fact sheet on compliance can be found here.
Local enforcement and education programs continue ramping up
Water suppliers reported that while their July statistics demonstrate that the number of complaints and warnings may be leveling off, the number of penalties is rising as the local programs mature.
Enforcement statistics include the following:
– 38,665 water waste complaints were reported statewide (by 374 suppliers), compared with 45,234 complaints reported in June (by 374 suppliers);
– 37,170 formal warnings were issued for water waste statewide (by 323 suppliers), compared with 36,302 formal warnings in June (by 313 suppliers); and
– 15,845 penalties were issued statewide (by 79 suppliers), compared with 8,876 penalties issued in June (by 54 suppliers).
Warnings and penalties not only draw attention to water wasting activities and undetected leaks, but they also complement local outreach and education programs to reduce water use.
Water suppliers have stepped up their communications considerably in the last two months and are extending their education programs to cover other drought-related needs such as irrigation and mulching practices to maintain healthy trees while limiting water for ornamental landscapes.
The July urban water supplier enforcement statistics can be found here.
July’s top performers
“Historically, water use rises dramatically in the hot summer months, primarily for landscape watering, which on average constitutes 50 percent of urban water use, in some cases far more. This is the time when we can most easily save the most water,” said Marcus. “Fortunately, most water districts and their customers are finally stepping up to show what they can do. It’s impressive, and not a moment too soon--and should motivate those who haven’t yet met their goals to meet them. We’re also ramping up our enforcement efforts for extra motivation.”
Dozens of communities reduced water use more than 15 percent beyond their conservation standards in July 2015. The list of stand-out communities includes Mammoth Community Water District (South Lahontan), Valencia Water Company (South Coast) and the city of Livermore (San Francisco Bay Area).
Suppliers demonstrating remarkable performance included:
– Golden State Water Company Simi Valley: Reduced water use by 40 percent in July, bringing R-GPCD to 85 gallons, in line with many other South Coast communities.
– City of Santa Cruz; Achieved a cumulative 31.5 percent savings for June and July, 22.5 percent over its 8 percent conservation standard. The district has implemented a water school to educate residents on how to reduce water use.
– City of Santa Rosa: Reduced water use by 43.8 percent in July, 2.5 times greater than the city’s 16 percent conservation standard.
– City of West Sacramento: Achieved a cumulative 34 percent savings for June and July, despite having a significant amount of commercial and industrial use.
To learn about all the actions the state has taken to manage the water system and cope with the impacts of the drought, visit www.Drought.CA.Gov .
Every Californian should take steps to conserve water. Find out how at www.SaveOurWater.com .
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A wildland fire that started over the weekend near Kelseyville has been fully contained.
Cal Fire said the Peterson fire was 100-percent contained as of 6 p.m. Thursday. It burned 215 acres.
The fire began at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday on Peterson Lane. No structures were destroyed and no injuries reported, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said this week that preliminary findings from its investigation indicate that the fire's cause involved equipment.
While the fire is fully contained, a small crew of four Cal Fire engines and 16 firefighters will continue to check the fire area for any residual smoke, Cal Fire said.
In its final report on the fire, Cal Fire thanked the citizens affected by the fires for their willingness to evacuate early for their safety, which helped firefighters focus on structure defense and fire perimeter control.
Cal Fire also offered its thanks to Kelseyville Fire, Lake County Fire, Lakeport Fire, Northshore Fire South Lake County Fire, the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Lake County Public Works Department, Lakeport Rod and Gun Club and Lampson Field for their cooperation during this and all the recent fires in Lake County.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In the midst of this year's extraordinary fire season, officials are looking to begin restaffing the Mt. Konocti fire lookout and are asking interested community members to consider volunteering.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli said Cal Fire is working with the Forest Fire Lookout Association to reestablish monitoring at the tower, which sits atop one of Mt. Konocti's peaks.
The Forest Fire Lookout Association reported on its Web site, www.ffla-ccwr.org , that the Mt. Konocti lookout tower originally was located at an Army receiving station, with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection – now known as Cal Fire – relocating the tower to its current location in 1977.
Bertelli said the lookout – which is owned by Cal Fire but which sits in the midst of the Mt. Konocti County Park – was last regularly staffed in 2002.
But in the wake of this year's massive wildland fires, Cal Fire is looking to return to using the lookout, which Bertelli said is a well-established and traditional tool that will augment newer technologies.
Staffing the lookout will require a number of volunteers, and so Bertelli said community members who have an interest in participating as asked to take part in a September training.
The training will take place on Saturday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Cal Fire Kelsey-Cobb fire station, located at 8948 Highway 175, Kelseyville.
Bertelli said the goal is that after the training Cal Fire will have a list of volunteers from which it can draw to keep the lookout active on a regular basis.
“We’d like to staff it every day, but it will depend on how many volunteers we have,” he said.
Bertelli said Cal Fire began staffing the tower again after the Rocky and Jerusalem fires began.
He said the lookout helped them detect smoke from inside the two fire burn areas – more than 94,500 acres combined – so they could distinguish it from new fires. That prevented full wildland dispatches of several engines being sent out because of smoke in the established perimeters.
Lookouts help identify new fires, record wind direction and humidity, and gather other valuable information that is key to determining how to respond to a wildland fire in its earliest stages, Bertelli said.
Bertelli said he has been taking an extra aggressive approach when wildland fires start locally, calling out air and ground resources at the first confirmed signs of an incident in order to control them as quickly as possible.
Having trained fire lookouts on Mt. Konocti will help in that effort, assisting Cal Fire command personnel with making the most educated and responsible decisions when planning responses to new wildland fires, he said.
Plus, Bertelli added of the lookout volunteer program, “It’s a good way for the community to come together” and help out.
Those interested in participating in the training are asked to call the Cal Fire Kelsey-Cobb station at 707-279-4924 and leave their contact information.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The residents of Lake County have lived through multiple large damaging wildland fires over the past five weeks beginning with the Rocky and Jerusalem fires, and more recently the Peterson and Grade fires.
Preliminary findings for the cause of the Peterson and Grade fires involve equipment – which means cutting dry grass or brush with mowers or trimmers that have metal blades, causing sparks when striking rocks – according to a report from Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said using such equipment is especially dangerous during these critically dry fire conditions after four years of drought.
The public needs to be aware of equipment use and the dangers it presents to sparking additional wildfires, the agency said.
Allowing hot engines to come in contact with dry grass as well as welding or even parking your vehicle in dry grass may be enough to start a new unwanted fire, Cal Fire said.
“We are at the peak of fire season, with historic dry fuels, and extremely dangerous fire behavior,” said Scott Upton, chief of Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit. “Our firefighters have been battling these major fires from the onset, as well as a multitude of smaller fires. We need your help in preventing the next wildfire.”
Defensible space around buildings does work to assist firefighters in saving your property but this is not the time of year to clear brush or mow dry grass, Cal Fire said.
The agency urges community members to cut brush during the rainy season and mow or trim grass at the end of the growing season, in the spring when temperatures are low and humidity is high.
Fire officials offered the following tips for using equipment the right away:
▪ Do all yard maintenance that requires a gas or electrical motor before 10 a.m., not in the heat of the day, or when the wind is blowing.
▪ Lawn mowers are designed to mow lawns. Never use lawn mowers in dry vegetation.
▪ Use a weed trimmer with a string line to cut down dry weeds and grass.
▪ Remove rocks in the area before you begin operating any equipment. A rock hidden in grass is enough to start a fire when struck by a metal blade.
▪ Hot exhaust pipes and mufflers can start fires you won’t even see, until it’s too late. Don’t pull off into dry grass or brush.
▪ Keep a cell phone nearby and call 911 immediately in case of a fire.
Remember, one less spark is one less wildfire. For more tips on how to prevent a wildfire, visit www.preventwildfireca.org .