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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters on Friday continued to gain ground on a wildland fire sparked near Lake Berryessa earlier this week.
The Wragg fire has been burning since Wednesday afternoon off of Highway 128 near Greaves Road in Napa and Solano counties.
On Friday firefighters continued to hold the blaze to 6,900 acres, increasing containment to 30 percent, according to Cal Fire.
Officials said that 140 structures remain threatened, with one outbuilding and one tent trailer destroyed so far, and one additional structure damaged.
The Canyon Creek area has been repopulated but mandatory evacuations remain in effect for the Quail Canyon and Sackett Lane areas, Cal Fire said.
The Red Cross reported that it has closed its evacuation center in Winters, but a large animal evacuation center remains open in that community.
Highway 128 remains open, but Pleasant Valley Road from Mix Canyon to Highway 128 is still closed. A soft road closure is in effect for residents at Road 87, according to Cal Fire.
Approximately 1,936 firefighting personnel remained on scene late Friday, along with 160 fire engines, 46 fire crews, 13 helicopters, 35 dozers, 20 water tenders, 10 volunteer companies, 115 overhead/command personnel and an incident management team, Cal Fire said.
This week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California combat the Wragg fire.
On Thursday, the state of California submitted a request for a fire management assistance declaration for the Wragg Fire and FEMA approved the state’s request the same day.
The authorization makes FEMA funding available to reimburse up to 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling the fire.
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NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star.
This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone – the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet – of a G2-type star, like our sun.
The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
“On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”
Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.
While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun.
Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.
“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment,” said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. “It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”
To help confirm the finding and better determine the properties of the Kepler-452 system, the team conducted ground-based observations at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory, the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, and the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. These measurements were key for the researchers to confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-452b, to refine the size and brightness of its host star and to better pin down the size of the planet and its orbit.
The Kepler-452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.
In addition to confirming Kepler-452b, the Kepler team has increased the number of new exoplanet candidates by 521 from their analysis of observations conducted from May 2009 to May 2013, raising the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler mission to 4,696. Candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.
Twelve of the new planet candidates have diameters between one to two times that of Earth, and orbit in their star's habitable zone. Of these, nine orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature.
“We've been able to fully automate our process of identifying planet candidates, which means we can finally assess every transit signal in the entire Kepler dataset quickly and uniformly,” said Jeff Coughlin, Kepler scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. “This gives astronomers a statistically sound population of planet candidates to accurately determine the number of small, possibly rocky planets like Earth in our Milky Way galaxy.”
These findings, presented in the seventh Kepler Candidate Catalog, will be submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. These findings are derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.
Scientists now are producing the last catalog based on the original Kepler mission’s four-year data set. The final analysis will be conducted using sophisticated software that is increasingly sensitive to the tiny telltale signatures of Earth-size planets.
For more information about the Kepler mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Area office of the California Highway Patrol will offer a free “Start Smart” traffic safety class for soon-to-be-licensed, newly licensed and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians.
The class will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.
The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 20 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the CHP's goal is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of these collisions.
The CHP’s “Start Smart” program is aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents happen, but collisions are 100-percent preventable.
“The CHP is committed to mitigating traffic collisions involving young, inexperienced drivers, because they are preventable,” said Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office. “'Start Smart' is an excellent program that promotes safe driving for young new drivers.”
The program is designed to provide an interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people.
“Start Smart” also focuses on responsibilities of newly licensed drivers, responsibilities of parents or guardians and collision avoidance techniques.
Space is limited for this class.
For more information or reservations, call Officer Kory Reynolds at the CHP office at 707-279-0103.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters on Thursday increased the containment on a wildland fire burning near Lake Berryessa.
The size estimate on the Wragg fire reached 6,900 acres by Thursday evening, and containment grew from 5 to 15 percent during the course of the day, according to Cal Fire.
The fire broke out just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Highway 128 at
Wragg Canyon Road in Napa and Solano counties.
The cause – initially reported as a vehicle crash – remains under investigation, Cal Fire said.
Officials lifted the evacuations order on Thursday for the Golden Bear Estates area and for residents on County Road 87, but residents of the Quail Ridge and Canyon Creek areas remained under a mandatory evacuation order. The Red Cross is offering temporary shelters for people and animals in Winters.
So far the fire has destroyed one outbuilding and one tent trailer, with one other structure damaged by the fire, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said portions of Highway 128 from Wragg Canyon to Pleasant Valley and at County Road 89 remain closed.
Resources assigned on Thursday evening included 1,372 firefighting personnel, 150 overhead or command personnel, 118 engine/truck companies, 10 volunteer companies, 14 water tenders, 41 fire crews, 13 helicopters, 24 bulldozers and four air tankers, Cal Fire said.
Cooperating agencies include Cal Fire, Napa County Fire, Winters Fire Protection District, Vacaville Fire, Vacaville City Fire, Napa County Sheriff, Solano County Sheriff, Yolo County Sheriff, California Highway Patrol, Red Cross, Napa County Roads, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, North Bay Incident Management Team and Cal Fire Incident Management Team 6.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission on Tuesday granted a use permit and variance for a Verizon cell phone tower facility in the Burns Valley area.
Commissioners Cheryl Hutchinson, Dirk Slooten and Chairman Carl Webb voted in favor of the project while Commissioner Nathalie Antus voted against the proposal. Commissioner Bill Perkins was not in attendance.
The cell tower's proposed location is a 40-foot by 40-foot parcel at 14549 Burns Valley Road, within a walnut grove, which commission clerk Julie Burrows said is lined with oak and pine trees. The tower is a “monopine” tower, designed to resemble a pine tree.
Complete Wireless Communications, who submitted the project application on behalf of Verizon, requested a variation to height limitations in the Burns Valley zone.
The company proposed developing a wireless telecommunications facility that includes the 70-foot-tall tower, which is twice the allowable height within the zone.
The surrounding land uses include residential to the north and vacant to the south, east and west.
Commissioners Slooten and Antus questioned the fall-zone of the proposed tower.
Jenny Blocker, Complete Wireless Communications' senior site acquisition and planning manager, said she did not have information related to the fall-zone; however, she said the tower is structurally engineered to prevent it from falling.
She said she is unaware of any report of a fallen tower. She also said there is no report of a one combusting, in response to a question by Antus.
Blocker said developers worked with city staff to select a site that satisfied the city's desires for development and Verizon's goal to improve telecommunication services, including that which supports public safety. Burrows said 10 sites had been reviewed.
Patrick McMahon, a board member for Calvary Church of Clearlake – which owns property on two sides of the proposed development area – spoke against granting the variance.
McMahon said the monopine would be 20 feet higher than other trees in the area and the shrubbery that is there currently differs from that of the proposed design.
He also expressed the church's concern for a possible decrease in property valley as a result of being near a cell tower, reiterating the concern of resident Laurie Frazier related to emission and potential health risks.
Cell towers “may not be as safe as they say they are,” McMahon said.
McMahon implied such safety concerns also have the potential to affect future development of the church's property next to the tower.
In addition to the monopine, the project proposal consists of a 30 kilowatt diesel emergency backup generator with a self-contained 132 gallon fuel tank, prefabricated equipment shelter with nine antenna sectors and two microwave dishes and outdoor equipment cabinets.
The facility is to be enclosed by a 6-foot tall fence with colored slats and a 12-foot wide access gate and will include underground power and telecommunication utilities.
According to Burrows, an acoustic study was completed in March and submitted to the city, confirming the equipment will not exceed acceptable noise levels.
An initial study, she said, was prepared pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act and a mitigated negative declaration was being proposed.
Burrows said mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts to less than significant levels have been incorporated into the project, which is consistent with the city's general plan.
Ultimately, the mitigated negative declaration was accepted with amendments and changes suggested by Slooten, including a requirement for certification and survey of the leased area for flood zone requirements prior to construction.
Another amendment offered, and ultimately accepted by the commission, required a change in location for the placement of the cell tower on the leased property.
The amendment required the tower and facility by relocated 20 feet west of its currently proposed location.
That relocation would move the tower a total of 70 feet from the property line shared with Calvary Church.
Email reporter Denise Rockenstein at
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A wildland fire sparked near Lake Berryessa on Wednesday afternoon ballooned in size later that night, with additional evacuations resulting.
The Wragg fire was first reported just before 2:30 p.m., burning in the 7700 block of Highway 128 near Greaves Road in Napa and Solano counties, Cal Fire reported.
Initially, officials said it was caused by a vehicle crash, but later on Wednesday said the cause is under investigation.
At 12:15 a.m. Thursday, Cal Fire said the fire had grown to 5,000 acres, with 5 percent containment.
Cal Fire said the fire is threatening 200 structures in the Quail Ridge community. Mandatory evacuations are under way there as well as in nearby Golden Bear.
No structures have been damaged or destroyed so far, Cal Fire said.
Hikers and campers in the Canyon Creek and Lake Solano campgrounds also were evacuated, Cal Fire said.
The Red Cross opened an evacuation center at the Winters Community Center, 201 Railroad Ave., plus a large animal evacuation center has been opened at 29775 County Road 31, also in Winters.
Cal Fire said Highway 128 at Wragg Canyon is closed.
On Wednesday night, Cal Fire said resources on scene included 525 personnel, 73 truck/engine companies, 16 fire crews, 11 dozers, 10 volunteer companies, nine water tenders, and 50 overhead or command personnel, with additional resources on order.
Firefighters are expected to continue working the fire aggressively through the night, providing structure defense and improving containment lines, according to Cal Fire's Wednesday night report.
The agency said the fire has continued to consistently travel at a rapid rate of spread through the steep, brush-covered terrain, fanned by erratic winds.
Those same winds have helped carry the smoke around the region, with smoky conditions and falling ash reported in Yolo County and the Sacramento area.
Satellite photos posted by the National Weather Service showed the fire's traveling to the east.
Email Elizabeth Larson at