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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A riding lawn mower is believed to be the cause of two separate fires on the same property in Kelseyville Thursday afternoon.
Firefighters knocked out the two fires in just under two hours, according to Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells and Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli.
The two fires were located at 4465 Gaddy Lane, the chiefs said.
The first fire was reported at 4:33 p.m. and burned half an acre, they said.
Wells said a man was using a riding law mower to cut grass around a pumphouse, where the first fire was located. The man then moved to a field on another part of the property and sparked the larger 18-acre fire, Wells said.
It was as he was clearing the scene of the first fire that Wells saw the second one kicking up. The second fire was dispatched at approximately 5:06 p.m.
Kelseyville Fire, Lakeport Fire, South Lake County Fire, Cal Fire and Northshore Fire all sent resources, Wells said.
There were two air tankers and a helicopter, six engines, a water tender, two hand crews and a total of 50 personnel on scene, according to Wells.
The fires were fully contained at about 6:20 p.m., Bertelli said.
Wells and Bertelli estimated two to three hours of mop up would be required.
Meantime, the Northshore Fire Support Unit was responding to provide the firefighters with dinner, according to Wells.
A third fire in the Kelseyville area had been dispatched at approximately 4:43 p.m. It was located on Highway 29 north of Bottle Rock Road, the chiefs said.
That third fire was a small roadside blaze that was quickly contained, Bertelli said.
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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A portion of Highway 29 will remain closed until Thursday evening while investigators continue their work at the scene of a fatal crash.
The wreck occurred before 7 a.m. on Highway 29 and Diener Drive, as Lake County News has reported.
A sheriff's deputy who was reported to be in pursuit of home invasion robbery suspects was involved in a three-vehicle wreck that killed one person, according to reports from the scene. Information was not immediately available regarding how the crash occurred.
The deputy was seriously injured and flown to an out-of-county trauma center. There was no update early Thursday afternoon on the deputy's condition.
Since the crash, Highway 29 has remained closed 2.6 miles north of the junction with Highway 53 to the Kit's Corner/Highway 281 intersection, according to Caltrans. Traffic is being diverted around the scene and onto Point Lakeview and Soda Bay roads.
Efforts to extricate the fatal crash victim continued into the afternoon, radio reports indicated.
California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds told Lake County News that the CHP's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team was working at the scene. The team is based in Redding at the CHP Northern Division headquarters.
Reynolds said the highway is expected to reopen between 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Thursday.
It's possible the closure could last longer, as some reports from the scene Thursday afternoon indicated the highway may not reopen until nightfall.
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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A crash early Thursday morning killed one person, seriously injured a sheriff’s deputy and has resulted in an extended shutdown of a stretch of Highway 29.
The crash, reported shortly before 7 a.m., took place at Highway 29 and Diener Drive, and was reported to have occurred during a vehicle pursuit.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta confirmed that one person died and a deputy sheriff was injured as a result of the wreck.
Sheriff’s deputies were responding to the report of a home invasion robbery in the area of Rocky Creek Road and Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake when a suspect vehicle was spotted and the pursuit began, leading to the crash, according to radio reports.
The deputy and another vehicle that wasn’t involved in the pursuit were reported to have crashed while the suspect vehicle fled the scene, based on reports from the scene.
REACH transported the deputy to an out-of-county trauma center while extrication on the other vehicle was continuing, radio reports indicated.
A short time later, Clearlake Police and sheriff’s deputies took at least one male home invasion suspect into custody in the areas of 19th and Oak and Pine in Clearlake, where the suspects reportedly crashed their vehicle and fled on foot. Medical assistance was called for the suspect, who suffered bites from a police K9, based on witness accounts and radio traffic.
Another male suspect – reported to be wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, and considered armed and dangerous – was still being sought, according to scanner traffic.
Because of the crash at Diener Drive, a portion of Highway 29 remains closed, with the scene still being processed, said Sapeta.
Sapeta said shortly before 8:30 a.m. that he anticipated the highway being closed for another three to four hours.
He said traffic was being redirected around the crash scene, onto Soda Bay and Point Lakeview roads.
In addition to Lake County Fire, Kelseyville Fire and Cal Fire also were on scene, Sapeta said.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The county's newest traffic signal is expected to be online later this month.
The signal will be located on Highway 53 at Olympic Drive in Clearlake.
“We are targeting the third week of October for the signal to be operational, weather permitting,” said Caltrans spokesman Scott Burger.
The new traffic light is part of a larger project that includes widening shoulders, lengthening turn pockets and repaving more than four miles of Highway 53.
Caltrans is still anticipating the project will be completed this fall.
Burger said a final layer of pavement is being putting down, which is expected to be completed this week, weather permitting.
He said there is striping and signage placement that will take place before the signal is activated.
The project contractor will then be working off of the shoulders through the middle of November, working on metal beam guard rail and other finish work, according to Burger.
“This final off-shoulder work is estimated to be completed by Thanksgiving,” Burger said.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A possible realignment of colleges and campuses in the Yuba Community College District was discussed Wednesday at a community forum held at the Clear Lake Campus on Dam Road in Clearlake.
Similar forums are being conducted throughout the district as the board of trustees explores a proposal to realign the Clear Lake Campus with Woodland Community College.
The Clear Lake Campus currently is aligned with Yuba College, its main campus being located in Marysville.
The proposed realignment, which takes into consideration geographical location, is expected to bring balance to enrollment and provide like educational structures throughout the Yuba Community College District, according to district officials.
It is anticipated to provide students with increased curriculum, resource and access opportunities. It is not expected to disrupt students' current courses of education, district representatives said Wednesday.
“I want to make sure the concerns of the faculty and the students are addressed and, if the board does go forward, we make it a seamless transition for the students,” Clear Lake Campus Dean Art Pimentel said.
Woodland Community College President Angela Fairchilds said the proposal is currently in the fact-finding phase and a recommendation is expected to go before the board of trustees in January.
She said if the proposal moves forward, a transitional phase of two or more years is anticipated to reorganize curriculum, staffing, resources and other operations.
Yuba Community College District is a multi-college district including Yuba College and Woodland Community College, the latter of which was a center under Yuba College until it gained its own community college accreditation 2008.
Fairchilds said the natural progression in the transition from a single-college district to a multi-college district is to reorganize the district to best serve the area geographically.
State and national initiatives are to require community colleges to collaborate regionally with other colleges, K-12 districts and industry partners to secure funding for career and technical education programs.
The geographical proximity of the Clear Lake Campus with Woodland Community College potentially increases opportunities for regional partnerships to compete for career and technical education funding and better align those programs for students with community economic development and workforce needs.
Yuba College President Rod Beilby said realignment will balance enrollment figures by adding the Clear Lake Campus enrollment to Woodland Community College instead of Yuba College.
He said this will assist in creating better balance in areas related to resources, funding, programs and other educational opportunities throughout the district.
Fairchilds said realignment would ensure similar structure of all institutes, with each having a main campus, an education center and outreach site.
She said while she anticipates additional curriculum and resource opportunities for students, such opportunities have yet to be specified pending analysis of staff, curriculum and other operations.
Fairchilds said she does not foresee the elimination of any programs as a result of the proposed realignment.
However, she said, all programs are subject to scheduled review and can be eliminated through the typical review process.
Pimentel said he saw the day's forum as a success.
“We are receiving input from a wide spectrum of community members, making sure we are addressing concerns in the interest of the Lake County service area,” he said.
Comments, concerns and/or questions may be directed to Pimentel at
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – “This US Department of Agriculture office and campgrounds are currently closed due to the lapse in federal government funding.”
That's the phone message that callers receive when dialing in this week to the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District office.
The message goes on to note that the office and campgrounds will reopen once Congress restores funding.
At the forest's main office in Willows, there is no answer on the main line, and forest spokesperson Tamara Schmidt's phone message also notes she has been furloughed because of the government shutdown.
The Forest Service closure is one of the local results of Congress' inability this week to agree on legislation that would prevent a shutdown of federal services.
Congressman John Garamendi's office reported that the USDA California headquarters in Davis is closed, with more than 200 of its employees furloughed. Also closed are USDA service centers in Woodland, Yuba City, Dixon, Colusa and Willows.
At the Veterans Affairs clinic in Clearlake, veterans are still being served this week, as the government guaranteed that all VA medical facilities and clinics would remain fully functional.
The Lake County Veterans Service Office confirmed that the local clinic was continuing to help local vets, but there are concerns about service interruptions should the shutdown continue into late October.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives failed to pass House Joint Resolution 72, the Veterans Benefits Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2014, which would have continued the agency's ability to pay veterans' pension and other benefits.
Congress has attempted to pass other piecemeal funding measures, which Congressman Mike Thompson said are “nothing more than cynical political ploys designed to lessen the outrage the House Majority is facing for shutting down the government.”
He added, “The right thing to do for our nation would be to pass the Senate’s compromise government funding legislation that protects health care reform and reduces spending.”
Other agencies experiencing the results of the shutdown – and having some local impacts – are the US Geological Survey, whose Earthquake Hazards Program has suspended most of its operations.
The agency is continuing to monitor and report earthquake activity – it reported on a 3.1-magnitude quake near Cobb on Wednesday – but in a posting on its Web site the US Geological Survey said “the accuracy or timeliness of some earthquake information products, as well as the availability or functionality of some web pages, could be affected by our reduced level of operation.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also reported that many of its associated Web sites are offline due to the shutdown, although it is continuing weather alerts through the National Weather Service.
County Social Services Director Carol Huchingson said the federal shutdown is not having much impact on her agency's programs at this point.
Section 8 Housing is the one program funded solely with federal dollars. She said federal officials advised that program funding may be delayed, “but assuming the federal budget is approved in the not-too-distant future, there should be no impact at all on our Section 8 tenants,” Huchingson said.
Lake County Administrative Officer Matt Perry said that the county departments most significantly funded by federal monies – such as Public Health, Behavioral Health and Social Services – have sufficient state and local money to fund operations for two to four weeks.
“If the 'shutdown' continues beyond a month, those departments may begin to feel an impact,” he said.
Other county departments that receive federal grants will not be receiving those funds until the federal government resumes operation, but they also have sufficient local monies to adequately continue operations, he said.
“The most impact will be felt by federal employees,” Perry said.
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