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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Walker Fire east of Clearlake Oaks and the Soda Complex in the Mendocino National Forest both continued to slow, according to reports from Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, respectively.
Cal Fire reported that the Walker Fire, at 14,500 acres, was 85-percent contained. The fire was caused, according to investigators, by the metal undercarriage of a vehicle striking a rock, as Lake County News reported Friday.
A total of 592 personnel with 15 Cal Fire crews, 37 engines, three helicopters, 21 bulldozers and 11 water tenders continued working on putting out the fire on Friday, officials reported.
The cost to fight the fire to date is now $2.2 million, Cal Fire reported. It's expected to be fully contained by Saturday.
The four-fire Soda Complex on the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District had burned an estimated 2,830 acres by Friday, according to a report from National Forest spokesperson Phebe Brown. An additional 446 acres is burning in 51 fires – referred to as the June ABCD Misc Complex – in other parts of the forest.
The lightning-caused fires include the Big, 775 acres, 40-percent contained; the Back, 1,500 acres, 80-percent contained; the Mill, 400 acres, 0-percent contained; and the Monkey Rock, 160 acres, 0-percent contained, according to Brown. The entire complex was reported to be 50-percent contained.
On Friday fire crews continued to complete the control lines on the Big and Back fires, Brown reported. Reconnaissance started on the Mill Fire and the Monkey Rock Fire was being be monitored.
One firefighter among the 245 reported to be on the Soda Complex suffered an injury, although particulars on the injury were not available late Friday. Another 83 firefighters were working on the forest's other fires.
Brown reported that Pogie Point Campground at Lake Pillsbury is closed and being used as a sleeping area for firefighters. Elk Mountain Road at the Bear Creek Road junction and near Soda Creek remain closed by Lake County officials due to the Back Fire.
While the fires are dying down in Lake County, they continue to rage in Mendocino County, where officials reported late Friday that a series of lightning-caused fires have burned 27,000 acre, with only 5-percent containment. Seventy-two fires remain active.
Air quality remains poor
The Mendocino fires have been the primary source of the smoke entering Lake County's air basin, Air Pollution Control Officer Bob Reynolds reported Friday.
Reynolds said there may be a weather break Saturday that could temporarily improve local air quality, with winds predicted to come from the southwest instead of the prevailing west to northwest winds.
Local monitoring has shown Lake County's air quality is violating state and federal health-based standards, Reynolds said. In the case of particulate in the air, the standards have been exceeded by as much as 277 percent, and are characterized as moderate to unhealthy air quality.
Reynolds said air quality conditions are expected to continue until the fires are out.
Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait advises residents near the fires to be prepared. People with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other lung or heart diseases should make sure that they have at least a five-day supply of any prescribed medications, according to Tait. Individuals with asthma should carefully follow their asthma management plans. Anyone, regardless of known health
conditions, should seek medical attention if they experience unusual symptoms of chest
Residents who live near the affected areas should be prepared to stay indoors, avoid vigorous physical activity and check for a "recirculation" function on the air conditioner, Tait advised. Sports or other outdoor activities should be moved indoors or rescheduled.
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The 28 members of Congress – including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson – sent the letter to President George W. Bush on Friday, seeking a disaster declaration for the state.
“This is a disaster of major scope and consequence,” the delegation wrote.
The letter states that more than 8,000 lightning strikes and record-low rainfall led to an estimated 1,088 fires burning in 30 counties throughout California, with 265,000 acres burned, 284 homes lost or damaged, and thousands of people evacuated.
The “overwhelming” number of fires has stretched state and local resources to the limit, the letter stated.
All of the state's firefighting resources are battling the blazes, yet 15 percent of the fires still don't have even a single firefighter working on them. “This is not due to negligence – our fire agencies have had to make the hard choices to abandon some fires in order to battle others,” the members of Congress wrote.
More lightning strikes and more fires also could be on the way, they stated.
The delegation asked the president to make an emergency declaration under the Stafford Act in order to provide “the essential federal resources” needed to save the homes, property and – potentially – the lives of state residents.
On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office reported that he, too, had sent a letter to President Bush requesting a state of emergency for California.
On Thursday Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Mendocino and Shasta counties. He's made similar declarations for five other counties as well – Butte, Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Trinity.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
For those planning on traveling this weekend, the following is the most current list of closures as of early Saturday morning.
– Route 299: Closed from 11.9 miles west of Junction City to Junction City in Trinity County; intermittent one-way controlled traffic at various locations from two miles west to two mile east of Ingot in Shasta County. Highway 299 has numerous wildfires burning near the highway, 15 miles east of Redding and 10 miles east of Burney in Shasta County. One-way traffic control will be in effect when needed to clear road of debris. Motorists should expect delays due to the fire.
– Route 36: Closed from the junction of Highway 3 in Trinity County to 32 mile west of Red Bluff in Tehama county in Tehama County is currently closed 30 miles west of Red Bluff to the junction of Route 3 in Trinity County.
– Highway 32: One-way traffic control from 12 miles to 7 miles west of the junction of Highway 36 in Tehama County due to fire and emergency equipment in the area. Motorists should expect delays when using this route.
– Highway 70: Closed from 7.6 miles west of Pulga in Butte County to the junction of Route 89, 10 miles west of Quincy in Plumas County to Big Bend Road in Butte County. There is no estimated time to reopen.
– Highway 96: Closed from 14 miles east of the Humboldt/Siskiyou County line to 18 miles west of Happy Camp in Siskiyou County due to a wildfire burning along the highway. There is no detour available and no estimated time to reopen the highway.
Motorists should watch for emergency equipment and personnel. Be advised that roads can close at anytime if conditions change.
For the most up-to-date highway conditions, call Caltrans' highway information line at 1-800-427-7623 or visit the Caltrans Web site at www.dot.ca.gov.
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WALKER RIDGE – Fire investigators have concluded that a vehicle was the cause of the Walker Fire, which on Thursday had reached 50-percent containment while making no additional gains in acreage.
Cal Fire Division Chief Dan Sendek said late Thursday that the Walker Fire was still at 14,500 acres in size, located mostly in remote wildland areas about 14 miles east of Clearlake Oaks.
The fire is expected to be fully contained by Saturday, Sendek said.
Originally, it was thought that the Walker Fire was one of hundreds of fires caused by lightning storms last weekend.
However, Sendek said it was sparked when metal – likely on the undercarriage or other metal part on the underside of a vehicle – scraped a rock.
In one day, the fire's containment grew significantly, from 10 to 50 percent containment, which Sendek credited to a lot of bulldozer work over the previous 24 hours, with 31 bulldozers on scene.
The winds were pushing the fire in a north northwest direction, said Sendek.
"With the continuing wind patterns, it doesn't appear to be a direct threat to Spring Valley," he said.
Nor was it a threat to Wilbur Springs, were residents had returned.
Cal Fire reported that residents were being allowed to return to the Double Eagle Ranch subdivision east of Clearlake Oaks, where evacuations had taken place last Sunday.
Sendek said the biggest concern for the Walker Fire was not a wind switch but rather unstable weather, with the possibility of thunder storms in the coming days.
Also on Thursday, the number of firefighting personnel on scene jumped from 592 the day before to 758 – of which 487 were with Cal Fire – with more hand crews arriving, said Sendek.
Late Thursday afternoon, along Walker Ridge Road, a few miles from where it turns to go toward Bartlett Springs, hand crews and bulldozer operators were at work on the steep hillsides, their work difficult to see from the road because of the thick pall of smoke that hung over the hills and valleys.
With the Walker Fire now nearing containment, firefighters and other personnel – including Sendek – are being demobilized and sent to other fires. "We're keeping what we need but not a person more," he said.
Personnel from the Walker Fire are being sent to areas including Butte and Shasta counties, where the fires are threatening communities, said Sendek.
"The big push is on the valley," he said, where the north wind is kicking up and more storms also are expected in the coming days.
Asked how the public can help the firefighting effort, Sendek said the main thing they wanted was the continued support of residents, and that donations were not necessary.
National Forest fires still growing
While the Walker Fire appears to be winding down, lightning-caused fires in the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District are continuing to grow.
Forest officials reported that four large fires on the Upper Lake District had been broken out from the 49 others on the forest, and are being managed by the Northern Rockies Interagency Incident Management Team.
The fires, located about 15 miles northeast of Upper Lake, include the Big, 850 acres; the Back, 1,800 acres; the Mill, 400 acres; and the Monkey Rock, 450 acres. Thirty structures are threatened, two have been destroyed.
Those fires, referred to as the Soda Complex, total 3,500 acres and are 5-percent contained. Another 385 acres are burning elsewhere in the forest, officials reported. Of the 495 personnel fighting those fires, 412 are committed to the Soda Complex.
The situation also is worsening in neighboring Mendocino County, where 72 fires are actively burning in the Mendocino Lightning Complex, according to county and state officials.
The fires have burned 27,000 acres and are only 5-percent contained, with numerous communities under evacuation warnings and 900 residences threatened, officials reported.
Calculating costs and damages
The total cost to fight the Walker Fire is estimated at $1.3 million, compared to $4.7 million for Mendocino County's fires. Sendek said the money to fight the fires comes from the state's Emergency Fund.
Only a hunting cabin in Benmore Canyon, where the fire began, was lost, officials reported.
The Woodland-based Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, which operates Indian Valley Reservoir, suffered some losses, said General Manager Tim O'Halloran.
The district has a communications tower on Walker Ridge that links it to the reservoir as well as Cache Creek Dam. "On Sunday night, that was overtaken by the fire and all the equipment on it was destroyed," he said.
The equipment destroyed included solar panels, radios, antennas, cabling and a backup generator, he said. They're now working to replace what was lost, and are using temporary satellite service in the meantime.
Damage is estimated at around $75,000, he said, which could double if the communications tower's structural integrity was compromised by the heat.
The fire reached Indian Valley Reservoir, said O'Halloran, where the district temporarily shut down the campground until the situation is stabilized.
O'Halloran said Cal Fire protected the district's water tanks and structures at the campground, including the hold damtender's residence. "The fire got right up to the campground but didn't enter it."
The district worked with Monte Winters, a Lake County Office of Emergency Services liaison who lives in Spring Valley. O'Halloran said Winters kept the district up to date on the fire situation.
O'Halloran said the district was concerned that the fire might reach its hydroelectric plant and a transmission line that goes over the hill to a Pacific Gas and Electric substation. "We were concerned about losing that in the fire," he said.
On Tuesday, district officials shut the power plant off manually due to concerns the fire might reach it, which he said could cause the plant's two operating turbines to trip offline. That, in turn, could have shut off the district's 250 cubic feet per second water release, which could have disrupted water delivery to its water customers.
O'Halloran said Cal Fire allowed district staff into the area to turn off the power and shift the water being released to another outlet.
In the end, the district didn't lose any power lines, nor was service to its water users interrupted, O'Halloran said.
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