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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The wildland fire burning on Cow Mountain northwest of Lakeport nearly doubled in size by the end of Saturday.
The Scotts Fire, located west of Scott Valley Road and east of Ukiah, had scorched a total of 3,000 acres by Saturday night, with containment remaining at 5 percent, according to Cal Fire.
The fire, first reported just after 1 p.m. Friday, led to temporary evacuations near Blue Lakes on Friday evening as it raced toward the community through steep, rugged terrain.
Nearly 300 additional fire personnel were assigned to the fire by nightfall on Saturday, with total personnel rising to 822, Cal Fire said.
Also on scene were 51 engines, 28 fire crews, eight helicopters, 17 bulldozers and nine water tenders, according to the Cal Fire evening report.
Cal Fire said 300 residences and 40 outbuildings remained threatened, with the fire’s cause still under investigation.
Officials said traffic controls are in effect for Scotts Valley Road.
A Cal Fire Type 1 Incident Management Team took command of the fire at 6 p.m. Saturday, officials reported. Cal Fire Division Chief Eric Hoffman, who was incident commander on the Wye Fire, is leading the team.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – In response to a wildland fire burning northwest of Lakeport, a Lake County official said Saturday evening that the county is issuing a temporary closure order for Lampson Field.
Lake County Department of Public Works Director Scott De Leon said the Notice to Airmen – or NOTAM – goes into effect at 7 a.m. Sunday, and will close Lampson Field to all general aviation traffic.
De Leon said Cal Fire will be using Lampson Field as its base of aerial operations on the Scotts Fire, burning since Friday afternoon at the northern end of Cow Mountain, west of Scotts Valley Road and east of Ukiah.
The closure will be in effect for five days, unless modified, De Leon said.
He said the closure order does not affect REACH Air Ambulance, which will continue to operate out of Lampson Field.
On Saturday evening Cal Fire said the Scotts Fire had grown to 3,000 acres, with 5 percent containment.
No date for full containment has yet been reported.
Earlier in the day, county officials issued a temporary closure order for Mt. Konocti County Park and suspended hunting in the Highland Springs area due to concerns about fire danger, as Lake County News has reported.
The county’s action to temporary close the park and halt hunting at Highland Springs also was in response to the already stretched state and local fire resources, which are being used not just on the Scotts Fire but also on the North Pass Fire in Mendocino County and the 16 Complex in Colusa and Yolo counties.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Saturday firefighters continued working on the ground and from the air to contain a wildland fire burning northwest of Lakeport.
The Scotts Fire, located on Cow Mountain west of Scotts Valley Road, was first reported shortly after 1 p.m. Friday.
By Friday night it had burned 1,600 acres in steep and inaccessible terrain, and resulted in the evacuation of the Blue Lakes area.
That evacuation order was lifted later Friday night, as Lake County News has reported. However, the Cal Fire Mendocino Unit said Saturday that 300 residences and 40 outbuildings remain threatened by the fire.
On Saturday firefighters held the fire’s acreage from advancing, and managed to get an estimated 5 percent containment on the incident, Cal Fire said. No date for full containment has yet been given.
There were 541 personnel assigned to the fire on Saturday – 491 of them from Cal Fire – along with 68 engines, 15 fire crews, three airtankers, three helicopters, eight bulldozers and one water tender, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire said the fire’s cause remains under investigation.
Lake County Air Quality Management issued an alert on Friday that forecast “moderate “ to “unhealthy” – with the possibility of “hazardous” – air quality conditions in Lake County over the weekend because of the fire.
Smoke from the fire resulted in a football game at Upper Lake High School being rescheduled from Saturday afternoon to Monday.
Cooperating agencies on the incident include Cal Fire; local fire agencies from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties; the Bureau of Land Management; the Lake County Sheriff’s Office; the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office; the Air National Guard; and Red Cross.
Major wildland fires continued burning in Lake’s neighboring counties on Saturday, with the North Pass Fire in Mendocino County remaining at 41,983 acres, with containment rising to 81 percent, according to the unified command of Cal Fire and the US Forest Service.
In Colusa and Yolo counties, Cal Fire said the 16 Complex in the Rumsey Canyon area had scorched a total of 16,837 acres, with containment at 35 percent.
Both the North Pass Fire and the 16 Complex are expected to be contained by Monday, officials said.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Trying to evaluate a football team on the basis of its first couple of games can be tricky business – even when you’re coaching that team.
That’s why a lot of coaches wait two or three weeks before venturing an educated guess about how good – or not so good – their football team is. Or is likely to become.
Clear Lake High assistant coach Mike Hansen believes it might even take a little longer.
“When we get into league play, we’ll get more of a sense of how good the teams are, and how we’ll match up with them,” Hansen said following Clear Lake’s 48-0 victory over Stellar Prep of Hayward in the Cards’ home opener Friday night.
Two games into the season, it appears safe to say a couple of things about the 2012 Cardinals, who’ll take a 1-1 record into next week’s game at home against South Fork: They seem to be progressing nicely, which is what inexperienced teams like the Cards are expected to do to be successful.
Also, they’re obviously capable of surprising people – opponents, prognosticators, maybe some of their fans. Who knows? Maybe a couple of their own coaches.
After a tough loss to what looked like a solid Div. III team, Durham, 27-20, in last week’s opener, the Div. IV Cards bounced back Friday and did what good teams do – dominate inferior opponents.
Clear Lake’s offense rolled methodically and efficiently for 260 yards, including 209 on the ground.
The defense, meanwhile, held The Thunder to a net 53 yards (when you include the minus 36 yards from five quarterback sacks).
“We took control early and we stayed in control,” said Hansen, the longtime Milo Meyer assistant who coaches the running backs and linebackers.
The Cards built a 14-0 first-quarter lead and extended it to 27-0 at the half as Luke Punzalan rushed for two touchdowns and quarterback Kenny Henninger threw for two (9 yards to David Mansell and 12 yards to Rone O’Rourke). The defense also scored on a safety.
“We really had good field position in the first half,” Hansen said. “They fumbled a couple of times, we kept the pressure on, and we got a good punt return from Mansell.”
Vince Rave, who joined the team this week, assumed most of the running duties in the second half and ended up leading Cardinal rushers wth 82 yards in 14 carries and a touchdown.
Andre Buendia added 48 yards as well as returning a kick 58 yards to set up an early Punzalan score.
A lot of different players contributed. Henninger, who tossed a couple of interceptions last week, was much more efficient in his second varsity start, completing 4 of 6 passes for 60 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 35 yards in seven carries.
Mansell caught two passes for 27 yards, gained some good yards on a couple of punt returns, and had a strong performance at his defensive back position.
Lineman Josh Larsen was solid again and had a sack. Julian Lewis had two sacks and Cory Banfil had one.
“We really didn’t know how good they were,” Hansen said of the Hayward team that will compete in the NCL II/Bay Football League. “We knew they were a bunch of sophomores and we knew they were bigger than us, and probably had more team speed. And we knew they scored a lot of points (in a 52-26 win) against Stone Ridge Christian.”
On paper, and according to the MaxPreps computer, it looked like a decent matchup.
The Cardinal coaches hadn’t seen any video of the team, so they had to rely on what other coaches had told them, ones who had played against them or at least had seen them play.
But what kind of team is Stone Ridge Christian? Or how about Mendota, which defeated The Thunder, 48-14, in their season opener.
As it turned out, “I think we matched up with them with our quickness better than we thought we would,” Hansen said.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With continued firing operations on the 16 Complex and the outbreak of the Scotts Fire on Friday, Lake County residents saw another influx of smoke and haze in the air basin.
Lake County Air Quality Management reported that air quality conditions were good much of Friday, with several hours of significant smoke intrusion midday.
The Clearlake and Northshore areas experienced more significant degradation of air quality on Friday. The district reported that levels of ozone and particulate were elevated, but did not exceed state health-based air quality standards, though some areas may have experienced significantly higher levels.
Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart said the prediction for the weekend is for “moderate “ to “unhealthy” air quality in Lake County. All areas of the County may be significantly impacted should
meteorological conditions worsen.
Wind forecasts for the weekend include periods of North and Northwest winds which would result in
potentially significant air quality degradation from the Scotts Fire, Gearhart said.
Smoke impacts are most likely to occur overnight, Saturday afternoon through Sunday, depending on the progress of the firefighting efforts, Gearhart reported.
At times this weekend, areas of the county could experience “hazardous” air quality levels as smoke settles into the basin, he said.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Although it again showed significant growth on Friday, a wildland fire complex burning in Colusa and Yolo counties is expected to be fully contained by Monday.
The two-fire 16 Complex, burning since Tuesday in the Rumsey Canyon off of Highway 16, burned more than 4,200 acres on Friday, rising to approximately 16,719 acres burned, according to Cal Fire. The incident was 35 percent contained.
Approximately 1,467 personnel, 71 fire engines, 52 fire crews, 21 bulldozers, 10 helicopters and three airtankers were assigned to the incident on Friday, according to Cal Fire.
Six structures have been damaged by the fire, but none destroyed, Cal Fire reported.
Firing operations to get fuel out of the fires’ path continued on Friday, which led to more smoke in some areas of Lake County. Cal Fire said if the firing operations succeed, additional fire spread will be minimal.
Highway 16 from Highway 20 to the town of Rumsey remained closed, with Cal Fire reporting the possibility of a closure or restricted traffic on Highway 20 if the fire reached it.
An advisory evacuation remained in effect for the Cortina Rancheria area, Cal Fire said.
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