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UPPER LAKE – A new incident management team has taken over supervision of the Soda Complex, which officials have estimated could be contained in the coming week.
Southern California Incident Management No. 3 took over the fire's management on Saturday afternoon, said Forest Service spokesman Marc Peebles.
“We're still getting our arms around it,” he said.
The team is working from a headquarters camp at Upper Lake High School, Peebles said Sunday. There is also a remote camp at Soda Spike for firefighters.
The four-fire complex has burned 7,020 acres to date, Peebles said. It was sparked by a lightning storm that passed over Northern California on June 21.
Over the past weekend the two fires that are still burning – the Monkey Rock Fire and the Mill Fire – continued to grow, said Peebles, causing the containment estimates to roll back from 78 percent on Saturday to 64 percent on Sunday. Peebles said 330 firefighters remain assigned to the two remaining fires.
The Monkey Rock Fire, at 1,630 acres and 65-percent contained, is estimated for full containment on Monday, according to Peebles. The Mill Fire has burned 1,600 acres and is 40-percent contained. Peebles said the Mill Fire's estimated containment date is next Saturday.
“There's a lot of line to construct that they're working on it diligently,” Peebles said of efforts to contain the fires.
The fires are located on the forest's Upper Lake Ranger District, in remote lands to the north and northwest of Lake Pillsbury.
Conditions there are very hot, Peebles said. In addition, firefighters are dealing with steep, rugged terrain. “There's all sorts of hazards out there.”
The 1,600-acre Back Fire and the 2,190-acre Big Fire already have been contained, but patrols remain on the areas they burned in case of flareups, Peebles reported.
On Friday a firefighter was taken to emergency care, said Peebles.
“There was a firefight that they thought might have had a heart attack or heard condition,” he said.
However, it was later found out that the firefighter hadn't suffered a heart attack, and the person was treated and released, and is doing OK, Peebles said.
Peebles said the current incident command expects to finish out the fire, and said the headquarters will stay in place Upper Lake until the complex is wrapped up.
Pogie Point Campground at Lake Pillsbury remains closed and is being used as a sleeping area for firefighters, according to officials. They're also asking hunters to be especially careful of fire equipment moving through the forest, with archery season having begun over the weekend.
Peebles didn't have an updated cost estimate for suppression, which on Saturday had been placed at $6.8 million.
In other fire news around the region, the Mendocino Lightning Complex is expected to be contained on Wednesday. So far, it's burned 53,300 acres and is 85-percent contained, according to Cal Fire. Suppression efforts have cost more than $36.5 million, with 2,154 firefighters assigned to the complex.
While evacuations remain in effect in certain communities, an evacuation order was lifted Sunday morning for the community of Rockport.
Cal Fire reported Sunday that the lightning fires around the state have burned a total of 825,218 acres since June 20. There are still 288 active fires around the state, 16 of which are in Cal Fire jurisdiction.
In all, 21,447 fire personnel, 1,593 fire engines, 473 hand crews, 293 dozers, 406 water tenders and 126 helicopters remain committed to the fires, according to Cal Fire.
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 California Highway Patrol reported that the crash took place at 1:41 p.m. on Highway 175, a quarter-mile south of Arroyo Vista and two miles north of Socrates Mine Road.
Cal Fire emergency personnel responded to the scene along with CHP.
The victim – whose name has so far not been released – was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of major, unspecified injuries.
No further information was available on the crash late Sunday night.
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Lt. Brad Rasmussen reported that Lakeport Police received a report on July 10 from a local woman who said she'd lost $8,300 after receiving an e-mail that offered her an in-home business opportunity.
According to Rasmussen, the suspects offered to send the victim checks with a request that she cash them and keep 10 percent of the funds for her service.
The woman cashed $8,300 in checks through her bank and forwarded the suspects $7,470 before discovering the checks were fraudulent, Rasmussen said.
Since the woman originally reported the crime, Rasmussen said the fraud suspects have attempted to obtain another $18,600 from her.
“This could be a very large scam,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said the Lakeport Police Department has identified four possible suspects in the case from South Carolina and is currently working with an agency from that state in an effort to develop additional evidence.
“The IDs appear good at this time because some of the suspect names are well known to the agency in South Carolina where the checks came from,” Rasmussen said.
It's a fortunate development in the case. “Usually we are not able to get a good lead on a case like this, but with the possible suspect IDs we might be able to make a case here or turn it over to another agency,” said Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said in many such cases of Internet fraud, the suspects cannot be identified or are operating from outside the country, making it difficult for law enforcement to investigate.
He said police are asking citizens to be aware of Internet and telephone frauds scams and not accept or cash checks from unknown persons or give out personal information over the telephone.
“On cases like this we like to get the information out to the public to hopefully prevent others from becoming victims of these scams,” he said.
If you live in Lakeport and believe you've been a victim of a similar scam, call Lakeport Police at 263-5491.
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As of Saturday, the Soda Complex had burned 7,020 acres to the north and northwest of Lake Pillsbury, on the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District.
Forest Service spokesman Brian LaMoure reported that late on Friday a firefighter was air evacuated at the end of the shift, complaining of chest pain. No further information on the firefighter's condition was available Saturday.
Containment on Saturday was at 78 percent, another slight rollback in progress for firefighters, according to LaMoure.
Two fires out of the original four in the complex, which began on June 21 due to lightning storms, continue to burn – the Mill Fire, at 1,600 acres, with estimated containment on July 16; and the Monkey Rock Fire, at 1,630 acres, with containment expected on July 14, LaMoure reported.
Also on Friday, the Mill Fire's northwest flank continued to spread, while resources patrolled the areas of the contained Big and Back fires, where LaMoure said smoke had been observed.
Officials urged caution for hunters in the forest, as archery season began on Saturday. Hunters are cautioned to be aware of road closures in the area and the presence of fire traffic.
Suppression costs for the Soda Complex so far are estimated at $6.8 million.
The Yolla Bolly Complex in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness is now being managed as part of the Lime Complex. One of its largest fires, the Yellow, has burned more than 8,200 acres and has no estimate for containment. No other specifics on the complex were available late Saturday.
Mendocino County's lightning complex jumped to 85-percent containment at 53,200 acres burned, according to Cal Fire.
There are 2,102 firefighters continuing to work on the six remaining blazes in the complex, which originally had included a total of 127 fires, officials reported.
So far, there have been 42 injuries and one firefighter death in the Mendocino Lightning Complex, which Cal Fire reported has cost $33.1 million to fight.
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