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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Phyliss Finlayson, 69, was injured Tuesday while she and friends were riding motorcycles southbound along Highway 1 near Timber Cove, said Officer Barbara Upham, spokesperson for the Santa Rosa office of the California Highway Patrol.
Upham said Finlayson entered a curve in the road and lost control of the motorcycle.
The motorcycle went off the road and into some gravel, where Upham said it hit an embankment and a tree.
Upham said Finlayson was thrown off of the motorcycle and landed in a creek bed about 40 feet below the embankment.
When Finlayson was ejected from the motorcycle, it appeared that her face hit the handlebars, which caused major facial injuries, according to Upham.
Upham said Finlayson also suffered a broken neck, broken ribs and a broken wrist, and was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment.
On Thursday Upham said she didn't have any update on Finlayson's condition.
“Currently, our suspicion is that she was driving too fast for the roadway conditions,” Upham said of the reason for the crash.
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Theresa McNerlin, public information officer for the county of Mendocino, reported just after 8 p.m. that the 53,300-acre fire had reached 100-percent containment.
The complex of 129 fires was sparked by dry lightning storms beginning June 20, as Lake County News has reported. Suppression costs are now estimated at $44.1 million.
The fires had triggered evacuations in numerous parts of the county, and destroyed one home and one outbuilding.
During the weeks of firefighting, one Anderson Valley firefighter died from respiratory distress, and another 45 were injured, according to Cal Fire.
When containment was announced Thursday, 2,088 fire personnel were still assigned to the complex – including 340 “overhead” or leadership positions – along with 119 engines, 63 fire crews, 10 helicopters, 45 water tenders, 18 dozers and one fixed-wing aircraft, Cal Fire reported.
Officials reminded residents that despite containment, smoke and flareups could occur within the complex's containment lines. Several weeks of patrolling all the fire areas – from the air and the ground – will continue in an effort to extinguish hot spots.
For information about other fires around the state, visit www.cdf.ca.gov.
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The Soda Complex, to the north of Lake Pillsbury on the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District, is now 75-percent contained after having burned 8,337 acres, according to Forest Service spokesperson Marc Peebles. There are now 655 personnel assigned to the fire.
The 2,748-acre Mill Fire is the last of the complex's four original fires to still burn actively. Peebles reported that a five-acre spot fire occurred on that fire's northern portion on Wednesday, crossing containment lines. Firefighters on the ground were aided by aircraft and contained the spot fire.
Peebles said the fire continues to be active on the western, southwestern and southeastern flanks, especially in the late afternoon, as it backs down towards Thomas Creek to the southwest and to the southeast. Backfires and line construction continue to take place.
The Vinegar Fire in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness has burned 9,430 acres on the Mendocino National Forest, according to Forest Service spokesperson Phebe Brown. There is no estimate for that fire's containment.
Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Bob Reynolds said the county's air quality is expected to continue to improve, with measurements expected to be in the good to moderate range through Friday. Some smoke from wildland fires around Northern California has remained in the air basin in recent days, brought here by west to southwest winds.
For more information about the forest fires visit Forest Service Web site at www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino or www.inciweb.org. For information about other fires around the state, visit www.cdf.ca.gov.
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The fire broke out at 2:22 a.m. Saturday, July 12, at the agency's complex on Old River Road, said Ukiah Valley Fire Chief Dan Grebil.
Three Ukiah Valley engines were joined at the scene by an engine from El Cajon Fire Department and another engine from the fire department for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians from the San Diego area, said Grebil.
The engines were in the county to work on the vast Mendocino Lightning Complex and were able to respond and assist with putting out the fire, which Grebil said took about an hour.
Investigation into the fire's cause is still ongoing, said Grebil.
Paul Tichinin, Mendocino County superintendent of schools, said the fire affected seven buildings, destroying five portables measuring about 900 square feet each.
Damage estimates are still in process, he said. “We do know it's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
No classrooms were damaged or student records lost, Tichinin said. The district's main computer system also remains intact, with staffers set up in a temporary office facility, using laptops to recover data.
However, a number of programs providing support for special groups of children were impacted, Tichinin said.
They include the Child Development Department, Child Care Planning Council, Americorps and the First Five Commission. Some equipment for very young, disabled children also was destroyed, he said.
A far-reaching impact is the loss of materials and records for the regional after school tutoring program. Tichinin said the program serves Lake, Sonoma, Humboldt, Del Norte and Mendocinco counties, offering training and support for after school programs.
He said his staff was working hard to find what was missing and damaged and get back on track for when the county's schools return to session, which is from Aug. 18 onward.
He said he was especially thankful to firefighters, and grateful that the firefighters from Viejas and El Cajon happened to be in the area.
“We're just really pleased with them,” Tichinin said.
Out of harm's way was Dominican University of California's facilities, which are located at the campus for Mendocino Office of Education.
“We were on the total opposite side of the campus,” said Dr. Lisa Ray Kelly, director of the center, which offers teaching credential programs serving Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Kelly said there will be no interruption of service for Dominican resulting from the fire.
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