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Capt. John Rodriguez, engineer Keith Hoyt and firefighter Adam Smith of Northshore Fire Protection District's Upper Lake station arrived home late Tuesday afternoon, said Fire Chief Jim Robbins.
The three men and an engine left for Butte County last Thursday as part of a strike team that included engines from Mendocino County, said Robbins.
Local fire resources were stretched too thin to send a full complement of five engines to the Humboldt, Robbins explained.
The Office of Emergency Services called Robbins on Sunday with requests for firefighters to go to the Whiskey Fire, but he didn't have anyone extra to send then, either. “Everybody was working or out of town.”
The Whiskey fire is burning in the Tehama County portion of the Mendocino National Forest. Cal Fire reported Tuesday night that the fire was 70-percent contained and had burned 7,783 acres near Paskenta.
Robbins said there are no other firefighting assistance requests currently. “Everything's kind of calmed down right now.”
Northshore Fire reported last week that this was the second time this year they had sent firefighters to an out-of-county fire. In May they went to fight the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The vigil will be held from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Austin Park in Clearlake.
The theme for the event is "Bringing a Community from Healing to Kindness."
Dr. Bill MacDougall, the new Superintendent of the Konocti Unified School District, will be one of the featured speakers.
The gathering will promote a community-wide effort to create an environment that honors, nurtures and protects all children. The community is invited to attend, and asked to bring friends, family and candles to light.
The vigil will fall on the two-week anniversary of the stabbing death of 17-year-old Heather Valdez of Clearlake, a student at Carlé High School.
The teen died June 5 following a confrontation that allegedly involved a Carlé classmate, 18-year-old Gabrielle Varney.
Varney is being charged with murder and remains in the Lake County Jail.
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On Tuesday, the CHP said they're filing charges with the District Attorney's Office against Evonne Sheree Donohue, 38, of Crockett, according to CHP Officer Adam Garcia.
Donohue is being charged with felony evading police, fraud, vehicle theft, possession of stolen property and other violations.
The CHP has not yet arrested Donohue, who they're still attempting to locate, Garcia said.
Donohue is alleged to have led CHP on a high-speed pursuit June 10, as Lake County News has reported.
CHP Officer Mark Crutcher spotted Donohue allegedly speeding in a stolen Dodge Ram pickup on Highway 29 at around 9:30 p.m. June 10.
When he attempted to pull the pickup over it fled. The occupants reportedly were throwing objects out of the pickup during the pursuit, but Garcia said none of those objects were recovered.
The pursuit eventually ended in downtown Lakeport, where police and sheriff's deputies joined CHP in attempting to apprehend the pickup's occupants, who fled the scene on foot.
Investigators found in the truck a number of stolen items, said Garcia, including more than 200 credit cards and identification cards alleged to have been stolen. He said it's still not been determined how the cards were illegally obtained.
Lakeport resident Marian Muniz, 49, is believed to have been Donohue's accomplice and passenger during the pursuit, said Garcia. No charges have been filed against her at this time, with the investigation – led by Crutcher – continuing.
Donohue has a lengthy criminal history, said Garcia. That includes a first-degree burglary arrest in Lake County January of 2007.
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Lakeport Police Officer Jarvis Leishman, who is the school resource officer for the Lakeport Unified School District, said the fake device was found before the end of school Friday – which also happened to be the last day of school before the beginning of summer vacation.
A seventh grade boy had the object – made from a 12-ounce water bottle, a film canister and wires that were duct-taped together – in his backpack, said Leishman.
The boy and his friends reportedly play a game in which he planned to use the object. Leishman said the boy took it to school to show his buddies. “I don't think he really intended to scare anybody.”
Leishman said he was on his way to the school when the object was found, and fellow Lakeport Police Officer Jim Bell arrived before him to check out the situation.
Students were evacuated to the school's sports fields while the fake bomb was checked, said Leishman. It did look like a bomb, although “a poorly made one,” he said.
Bell looked it over and determined that it was a fake, Leishman said. The object felt heavy, and it turned out that the boy had filled it with dirt, which Bell confirmed after he opened it up and dumped it out.
Once the situation was determined to be resolved, the students were called back into their classrooms, roll call was taken and the children were sent home, said Leishman.
Although it was a fake, the boy may face some repercussions. “I cited him for possession of a facsimile bomb,” said Leishman.
He said the case was sent to the county's juvenile probation department, where they'll decide how to proceed.
Leishman said cases where fake bombs are prosecuted require a malicious intent, and he didn't believe that the child had intended any harm.
At the end of his first year as school resource officer, Leishman said this is the only incident of this kind to happen during his time with the school district.
There were, however, seven expulsions during the school year for students who made “active shooter” type threats against others in the district, he said.
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The Whiskey Fire, located five miles northwest of Paskenta, ignited on Thursday, according to the US Forest Service. The cause is under investigation.
On Sunday the Whiskey Fire was 25-percent contained at 6,815 acres, Cal Fire reported.
The Unified Command by the Forest Service and Cal Fire's Tehama-Glenn Unit initially led the effort to bring the fire under control, before turning the fire's management over to Nor Cal Interagency Incident Management Team II on Friday. The team draws on expertise from federal, state and local fire fighting agencies throughout California.
The fire was initially reported at about 12:30 p.m. June 12 as about 10 acres in size before it spread rapidly through the brush, according to the US Forest Service.
The fire is burning in chaparral brush and grass in a sparsely habited area of the forest, at elevations of 1,500 to 4,000 feet, officials reported. Conditions include hot temperatures and dry vegetation due to winds and little precipitation.
Portions of Forest Roads M-2 and M-4 were closed to public travel to expedite movement of fire equipment and personnel to the fire lines, officials reported. Five structures are listed as threatened but there is no evacuation ordered.
In other fire news, Cal Fire reported Sunday that Butte County's Humboldt Fire was 80-percent contained at 23,162 acres.
Firefighter numbers had been scaled back to just under, 1,200, from a high of nearly 4,000.
Northshore Fire personnel and firefighters from Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit were sent to Butte County to assist with the containment effort last week, as Lake County News has reported.
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Northshore Fire Protection District reported that an engine from its Upper Lake station plus three firefighters headed out Saturday as part of a strike team composed mostly of Mendocino fire personnel.
Pat Brown, a battalion chief with Northshore Fire, said this is the second time this year an Upper Lake engine has been sent to assist with an out-of-county fire.
In May, Northshore firefighters had traveled to the Santa Cruz Mountains, where they worked on the Summit Fire, which burned 4,270 acres.
That fire has been dwarfed by the Humboldt Fire in Butte County, which on Saturday had reached 23,163 acres and was 45-percent contained.
A total of 3,826 firefighters were on scene Saturday, of which 1,574 were with Cal Fire, the agency reported.
Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit also had deployed firefighters to the Humboldt Fire late last week, as Lake County News reported Saturday.
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