Tuesday, 25 February 2025

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control’s kennels have once again filled up with a variety of dogs available to new families.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Boxer, German Shepherd, husky, mastiff, pit bull, Pomeranian and shepherd.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

“Cricket” is a senior female Lhasa Apso in kennel No. 4, ID No. 11650. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Cricket’

“Cricket” is a senior female Lhasa Apso with a long tan and white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 4, ID No. 11650.

“CoCo” is a young male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 5, ID No. 11763. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘CoCo’

“CoCo” is a young male pit bull terrier with a short brown and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 11763.

This male terrier is in kennel No. 6, ID No. 11756. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male terrier

This male terrier has a short black and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 6, ID No. 11756.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 7, ID No. 11772. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length black and tan coat.

She’s in kennel No. 7, ID No. 11772.

This female shepherd is in kennel No. 8, ID No. 11770. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Female shepherd

This female shepherd has a short tricolor coat.

She’s in kennel No. 8, ID No. 11770.

This young female Labrador Retriever is in kennel No. 9, ID No. 11720. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female Labrador Retriever

This young female Labrador Retriever has a short black coat with white markings.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 11720.

“Alaki” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6386. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Alaki’

“Alaki” is a male pit bull terrier.

He has a short brindle coat with white markings. He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6386.

“Truely” is a female pit bull in kennel No. 15, ID No. 11645. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Truely’

“Truely” is a female pit bull with a short white and tan coat.

She’s in kennel No. 15, ID No. 11645.

This male boxer is in kennel No. 16, ID No. 11738. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male boxer

This male boxer has a short brown and black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 16, ID No. 11738.

This female Labrador Retriever is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 11736. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female Labrador Retriever

This female Labrador Retriever has a short black coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 11736.

This male pointer is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 11771. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male pointer

This male pointer has a short tricolor coat.

He’s in kennel No. 21, ID No. 11771.

“Scout” is a young male husky-shepherd mix in kennel No. 22, ID No. 11778. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Scout’

“Scout” is a young male husky-shepherd mix.

He’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 11778.

This female pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 11777. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female pit bull terrier

This female pit bull terrier has a short brown and white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 23, ID No. 11777.

This male Pomeranian is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 11776. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male Pomeranian

This male Pomeranian has a long tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 24, ID No. 11776.

“Smokey” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 28a, ID No. 11646. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Smokey’

“Smokey” is a male pit bull terrier with a short fawn and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 28, ID No. 11646.

“Rogue” is a male mastiff in kennel No. 31, ID No. 11732. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Rogue’

“Rogue” is a male mastiff with a short brindle coat.

He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 11732.

This male German Shepherd is in kennel No. 33, ID No. 11564. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium-length tricolor coat.

He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 11564.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The prosecution on Friday continued to lay out the basics of its case in the preliminary hearing of the man accused of setting the Clayton fire that devastated Lower Lake in 2015 as well as 15 other wildland fires over the course of a year.

The Lake County District Attorney's Office has charged Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, of Clearlake with 23 counts for setting 16 fires and attempting to start a 17th that self-extinguished between July of 2015 and August of 2016.

Testimony so far has confirmed that Pashilk was under surveillance for more than a year before authorities said he set the Clayton fire on Aug. 13, 2016. He was arrested two days later and has remained in custody – primarily in an out-of-county facility – for most of that time.

As it was on the proceeding's first day on Thursday, on Friday all of the witness testimony was offered by Cal Fire personnel involved with investigating the various fires Pashilk is accused of setting as well as keeping him under surveillance.

On Friday morning, Russell West, a fire captain and investigator; Bryan Dudley, a fire apparatus engineer in 2016; and Ryan Finn, a Cal Fire battalion chief, all took the stand.

West and Dudley testified about the cause and origin of the Western fire on Western Mine Road near Middletown on July 23, 2016, while Finn explained Cal Fire's surveillance activities.

They were followed by Cal Fire Battalion Chief John Schnaidt and Forester Damon Denman, who also is a law enforcement officer with the agency.

Friday’s testimony began to focus more on the Clayton fire, larger and more destructive than all of the other fires combined by orders of magnitude.

Tracking the suspect

Schnaidt was part of the team conducting surveillance of Pashilk's activities during 2016. He recounted tracking Pashilk's travels both by following him and by a GPS tracking device that investigators had put on Pashilk's Chrysler Sebring while it was parked at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown.

On Thursday, investigators had recounted looking for a green Subaru station wagon that Pashilk had been known to drive in 2015 on surveillance video. Hinchcliff told Lake County News that Pashilk later sold that car.

The other car that was key to the case was Pashilk's light gray two-door Chrysler Sebring, distinctive for its sunroof and large alloy wheels. Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who is prosecuting the case, said he doesn't know the whereabouts of that car.

The GPS tracking device was installed once and then reinstalled twice more in order to refresh its batteries, which Schnaidt said they wanted to do every one to two weeks. The last time it was replaced was on Aug. 12, 2016, the day before the Clayton fire began.

During his testimony, Schnaidt explained that he was both following Pashilk and using the GPS tracker to monitor him on Aug. 9, 2016, the day the Canyon fire occurred.

That day, he followed Pashilk from Twin Pine Casino to Lower Lake. The GPS tracker then showed Pashilk's vehicle turn onto Seigler Canyon Road near Lower Lake. The Chrysler then turned around and headed back toward Lower Lake on Highway 29. Schnaidt said he could see Pashilk was alone in the car.

When Schnaidt drove down Seigler Canyon Road to check the area, he encountered the Canyon fire, which was pushing into a mobile home. He worked to get the residents evacuated.

He also was among several Cal Fire investigators tracking Pashilk on Aug. 13, 2016, the day the Clayton fire started

On that afternoon, just after 4:30 p.m., Schnaidt was at the Chevron gas station in Middletown where he saw Pashilk and his Chrysler. Pashilk, who was alone, went into the mini mart, then got back into his car and drove northbound on Highway 29 in the direction of Lower Lake.

Schnaidt, who followed a few miles behind Pashilk, said the GPS tracker showed that the Chrysler drove down Clayton Creek Road. According to his daily tracking log, at 4:55 p.m. he then drove down the road to see where the Chrysler had stopped and saw a fire, measuring 20 feet by 20 feet, on the east side of Clayton Creek Road.

Denman, who also was following Pashilk that day and monitoring him on the GPS tracker, was already at the scene, Schnaidt said he had four very large metal washers that he threw down at the four corners of the fire because he wanted to assist the investigating officer and be able to show where the fire was at, at a certain time.

Schnaidt said he tried to put out the fire but the flames already were tall and it took off, burning across a grass field with wind on it. He said he also couldn't get past a barbed wire fence quickly enough.

By the time he tried to knock it down, “The fire already was gone,” said Schnaidt, describing the beginning of a blaze that would in the days to come destroy 300 structures in Lower Lake and burn more than 3,900 acres.

While firefighters took over trying to stop the fire, Schnaidt continued to track Pashilk's movements, noting that after leaving the Clayton Creek Road area Pashilk's Chrysler was tracked to his home on Koloko in Clearlake just after 5:20 p.m. At 5:50 p.m., Pashilk was tracked driving alone down Lakeshore, where he went to the Flyer's Gas Station.

Then, minutes after 6:30 p.m., Schnaidt saw Pashilk and his vehicle parked on the west side of Highway 29, facing southbound, just south of Spruce Grove and Clayton Creek roads, in the fire area.

Defense attorney Mitch Hauptman noted during cross examination that the GPS on his phone sometimes shows him as being in a place that's different from his actual location. He questioned how fine-tuned the GPS tracker used by investigators actually is, with Schnaidt noting that it's very accurate, down to meters.

Hauptman asked if the information from the tracker and how it's relayed is at least partially dependent on cell signal, and Schnaidt confirmed it is.

Hauptman then said he assumed that Schnaidt had been driving around Lake County and was aware of spotty cell phone service in some areas. “How at all does that impact your surveillance and tracking?”

Schnaidt said that one of the trackers could pick up Pashilk's actions all the way through Big Canyon while others couldn't, and noted that when they retrieve the tracker they can download the real-time tracking information that will show his location even when cell service is lost.

Hauptman asked if there were any issues with satellite coverage, wooded areas or other factors that might interfere with the device. “It seemed like it was working fine,” said Schnaidt, even when the coverage wasn't always good.

Schnaidt said he had hoped to catch Pashilk in the act, but never did quite see him doing anything. Under Hauptman's questioning, Schnaidt said there were no other suspects in the fires.

He also said he had no issues with the GPS tracker on Aug. 9, when the Canyon fire started, or on Aug. 13, when the Clayton fire began. As for following a suspect as well as tracking them with GPS, Schnaidt said, “We always try to get eyes on the vehicle to corroborate that,” acknowledging there were times when Pashilk's vehicle was out of his view.

When Hinchcliff asked about the GPS tracker's performance, Schnaidt said it hadn't given wrong locations and it was always accurate and correct.

Another investigator also tracks Pashilk

During his testimony, Denman – who said he has done at least 10 arson investigations – explained that he does surveillance, for which he has taken a 40-hour course at the Cal Fire academy.

He began tracking Pashilk on July 23, 2016, the day the Western fire started near Middletown, and would track him every day of August 2016, leading up to Pashilk's arrest on Aug. 15, two days after the Clayton fire started.

Beginning that evening, he and another officer separately tracked Pashilk from the Twin Pine Casino parking lot toward Lower Lake, but they were not using the GPS tracking device. They then began following another light-colored car and realized they had passed Pashilk, who had turned off onto Western Mine Road.

They returned to Twin Pine Casino shortly before 7:30 p.m. and saw that Pashilk's Chrysler was back at that location, with no one in it. Just before 8:15 p.m., they saw the vehicle leave, heading northbound on Highway 29 toward Clearlake. Pashilk was in the front passenger seat and two white female adults – one driving, one in the backseat – were with him.

Denman also tracked Pashilk on July 25, 2016, when he also saw a woman riding with him and then Pashilk driving alone, and again on July 26, 2016, when he was again doing mobile surveillance.

On July 26, 2016, Denman was assigned to a prominent overlook on Sulphur Bank Road northwest of the city of Clearlake, in an area selected as an observation point due to a number of fires having occurred there. He said he was watching for the Chrysler or anyone else to go by.

Just after 4:34 p.m. that day, Denman saw a Chrysler Sebring traveling northwest on Sulphur Bank Road. It had a sunroof and notable tire rims, as Pashilk's vehicle had. Denham said he used his binoculars to view it from a quarter mile away. While he said it was the same make and model, he couldn't see a license plate from that distance, nor could he see Pashilk in the car.

As the car traveled along the road, it went into a tree-shrouded area at about 40 miles per hour. He said it didn't emerge back into sight in an open area further up the road. Instead, he heard a motor winding up and saw the Sebring heading back toward Clearlake at a high rate of speed – he estimated it was going 60-plus miles per hour.

After the Chrysler left, Denman said he didn't see any smoke, but he spotted a white utility pickup pull up nearby. Shortly after 4:45 p.m. Denman drove up to the area where the pickup was parked and met a man in a bright red construction workers' shirt standing next to a roadside ditch filled with leaves and other dry materials, using a shovel to put out a small fire and calling it in to 911 on his cell phone.

The man, whose last name was given as Luna, told Denman he had pulled up after seeing the fire, and that he was passed by another vehicle – which he thought was white – at a high rate of speed. The Chrysler, it was noted, was light-colored. Luna didn't remember anything about the driver.

Denman also testified to surveilling Pashilk on July 29, 2016, the date the North Branch fire occurred on Ogulin Canyon Road just north of the city of Clearlake.

He said he saw Pashilk driving his Chrysler slowly southbound on Lakeshore Drive, smoke a cigarette and looking out toward the smoke rising from the fire in Ogulin Canyon. Within 10 minutes he saw Pashilk again, pulled out into a wide spot 300 feet down Point Lakeview Road, where he could look across and see the smoke from that fire.

On Aug. 13, 2016, Denman – like Schnaidt – was conducting mobile surveillance of Pashilk, both following him in his vehicle and using the data from the GPS tracker that had been reinstalled on the Chrysler the previous day.

He had started following the Chrysler as it traveled north on Highway 29 toward Lower Lake just after 4:30 p.m. Denman estimated he was about two to three miles behind the Chrysler when he saw the icon for the vehicle on the GPS tracker signal that it had turned onto Clayton Creek Road's north entrance a few minutes before 5 p.m. and driven in about a quarter mile before turning around, returning to Highway 29 and continuing north.

Shortly after the Chrysler left, Denman turned onto Clayton Creek Road and drove about 1,000 feet. As he came around a corner he saw a fire on the lefthand side – or the east side – of the road, approximately 15 feet in diameter, burning in thigh high grass.

“It was burning aggressively,” Denman said, explaining that he pulled over and reported it to 911. Schnaidt pulled up behind him and marked the edges of the fire.

Denman said he didn't try to put it out. From his experience, it was well established and burning hot, with flames rising to 10 feet high. That was the start of the Clayton fire.

Hauptman questioned if Denman had actually seen the Chrysler on Clayton Creek. Denman said he didn't, he just saw it reported on the GPS tracker – and how long the car had actually been on that road. Denman estimated maybe two minutes.

Testimony will continue on Feb. 21. The preliminary hearing is anticipated to continue until early March.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A local hazard mitigation plan is being developed by the city of Lakeport, which plans to hold a meeting this month on risk assessment.

The meeting will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Fires, drought, floods and severe weather are just a few of the hazards to be addressed in the plan.

While hazards such as these cannot be prevented, a hazard mitigation plan forms the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses by breaking the repeated cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction.

Additionally, only communities with a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan are eligible to apply for both pre- and post-disaster mitigation grant funding.

Nationwide, taxpayers pay billions of dollars annually helping communities, organizations, businesses, and individuals recover from disaster. Some disasters are predictable and, in many cases, much of the damage can be reduced or even eliminated through hazard mitigation planning.

The people most aware of potential hazards are the people who live and work in the affected community.

In addition to plan participation by local, state and federal agencies, the city is seeking all interested community members to hear more about the local hazard mitigation planning project.

City officials encourage attendance and participation from the general public at the Feb. 19 meeting.

For additional information, please contact Michelle Humphrey at 707-263-3578 or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Scientists who study the solar system tend to ask big questions: How was our solar system formed? Where did the building blocks of life come from? What hazards from above threaten life on our planet? To find answers, they’re looking more and more at small worlds.

What are small worlds? Asteroids for sure. Comets too. Also the many small satellites or moons that orbit large planets as well as the icy worlds at the distance of Pluto and beyond.

Some have combined, only to be broken apart later by collisions and tidal forces. Others have gone largely untouched since the dawn of the solar system. Some carry water and organic compounds, others are almost entirely composed of metal. And all hold keys to questions about our solar system and the origin of life on Earth.

Dr. Adriana Ocampo, program executive for NASA’s New Horizons mission, said, “Water is key to life as we know it. Learning where water is found in our solar system provides pieces to the puzzle of understanding the origins of life. New Horizons recently surprised us by discovering a large abundance of water ice at Pluto.”

More surprises are in store, as New Horizons transmits the data from its Jan. 1 flyby of the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 back to Earth!

Small worlds can be found in a wide range of locations across the solar system, from the inner solar system all the way out to the Kuiper Belt. When they are studied together, these remnants of the early solar system can help tell the story of solar system formation.

Dawn recently completed a mission to the Main Asteroid Belt, visiting the dwarf planet Ceres and the Belt’s largest asteroid, Vesta.

OSIRIS-REx has arrived at Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid about 1650 feet (500 m) across, and will return to Earth in 2023 with a sample so scientists can begin to understand Bennu’s origin and history.

The Lucy mission will be traveling to six trojan asteroids, trapped in the orbit of Jupiter. These objects are the only remaining unexplored population of small worlds in the solar system. The Psyche mission will be visiting a metal object in the Main Asteroid Belt that could be the remnant core of a proto-planet similar in size to Vesta!

While those missions travel to their individual targets, NEOWISE, a repurposed space telescope in low-Earth orbit, has made infrared measurements of hundreds of near-Earth objects and tens of thousands of other small worlds in the solar system. These diverse worlds offer insights into how our solar system formed and evolved.

“This is not your grandparent’s solar system, and things are not as orderly as we once believed,” Dr. Tom Statler, Planetary Science Program scientist at NASA Headquarters, said. “The data we’ve gleaned from these objects so far have changed the way we think about the origin of the planets. For example, the small worlds in the Kuiper Belt are leading us to think that Uranus and Neptune formed much closer to the Sun than where they reside now, then gradually moved to their current orbits.”

The biggest misperception about small worlds? Their distance to each other. Statler explained, “In the movies, they always show an asteroid belt with millions of rocks almost touching each other, whereas in reality there is much more empty space. You have to travel hundreds of thousands of miles to get from one asteroid to another.”

Yet scientists are also looking closer to home. Determining the orbits and physical characteristics of objects that might impact Earth is critical to understanding the consequences of any such impact; and responding to an actual impact threat, if one is ever discovered.

NASA knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth. But, to prepare for that scenario NASA is developing the Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART mission as the first demonstration of the kinetic impact technique that could be used to change the motion of a hazardous asteroid away from Earth.

For more big stories about our solar system and how small worlds are yielding big answers, visit http://science.nasa.gov.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In advancing the Department of the Interior’s commitment to reduce wildfire risk, the Bureau of Land Management on Friday released its Hazard Removal and Vegetation Management Project Programmatic Environmental Assessment.

This assessment covers approximately 551,000 acres of BLM-managed public land in central and northern California and streamlines the process for right-of-way holders, utility companies, and counties to treat vegetation and remove hazardous trees within 200 feet of critical infrastructure to reduce wildfire risk.

Significant increases in dead and dying trees are threatening public safety in high-use areas near roads, private property, utility lines, recreation areas and trails.

The BLM is taking action consistent with the direction of Executive Order 13855 to facilitate the removal of hazardous trees near critical infrastructure in California, as the effects of drought, bark beetle infestation and high tree densities continue to impact communities.

“When it comes to wildfires, we have to get out ahead of the problem,” said Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. “In recent years, we have seen the sheer devastation that some fires can cause. Active forest management is the best way to address this pressing issue, and I am pleased with this latest step that the Bureau of Land Management is taking.”

“This plan helps reduce wildfire risk by actively managing forests and woodland areas,” said BLM California Acting State Director Joe Stout. “It streamlines environmental review for vegetation treatments to create defensible space near roads, utility lines, private property, recreation areas, and other critical infrastructure to reduce wildfire risk.”

The BLM estimates that between 2,500 and 20,000 acres of treatment will occur on an annual basis under this programmatic EA. Treatment strategies include removing dead and dying trees, clearing understory vegetation, and conducting prescribed pile and understory burns.

The EA covers eight BLM resource management plans spanning 35 northern and central California counties: Alpine; Amador; Butte; Calaveras; Colusa; El Dorado; Fresno; Glenn; Humboldt; Kern; Lake; Lassen; Madera; Mariposa; Mendocino; Modoc; Napa; Nevada; Placer; Plumas; Sacramento; San Benito; Santa Barbara; Shasta; Sierra; Siskiyou; Solano; Sonoma; Tehama; Trinity; Tulare; Tuolumne; Ventura; Yolo and Yuba.

The Hazard Removal and Vegetation Management Project Programmatic Environmental Assessment decision is subject to a 30-day appeal period. To review a copy of the EA and for more information visit: https://goo.gl/v3WCAe.
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On Thursday, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that his 90/10 federal cost sharing language was included in the upcoming federal funding bill.

This bipartisan language requires that the federal government cover at least 90 percent of the cost for debris removal and essential assistance for 2018 federally-declared disasters in areas where there were fires.

This will assist with debris removal and recovery from the Mendocino Complex fires in Thompson’s Northern California district and all other 2018 California wildfires that were federally-declared disasters, including Paradise’s Camp fire, and the Carr and Woolsey fires. Typically, that cost share is split between the federal and state governments 75-25 percent.

“Our local governments are working around the clock to help our communities recover from last year’s fires deserve every resource that the federal government can provide. That’s why I am proud that my language to increase the federal cost sharing of that recovery to 90 percent was included in this spending bill,” said Thompson. “I worked closely with my colleague Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, Chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, to ensure this bipartisan language was included. We must secure every federal dollar and resource possible to help our communities rebuild. We will continue to come back even stronger.”

The Mendocino Complex Fire was the largest recorded fire complex in California history. It was a large complex of two wildfires, the River fire and Ranch fire, which burned in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn counties, with the Ranch fire being California's single-largest recorded wildfire.

First reported on July 27, 2018, both fires burned a combined total of 459,123 acres.

The fires collectively destroyed 280 structures while damaging 37 others; causing at least $267 million in damages, including $56 million in insured property damage and $201 million in fire suppression costs.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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LUCERNE, Calif. – A woman was injured and her home was damaged in a Saturday afternoon fire in Lucerne that began due to a wood stove.

The fire was first reported just after noon on Saturday in the 7100 block of E. Highway 20 near Rosemont Drive, according to radio reports.

Firefighters arriving on scene minutes later reported finding heavy smoke coming from the two-story wood structure, which is located across the highway across from Clear Lake.

Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio told Lake County News that the home’s resident was lighting her wood stove when it flashed on her.

“She sustained burns to her hand trying to put the fire out,” he said.

The woman later was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Ciancio said. Due to the weather, an air ambulance wasn’t available to fly her out of county.

Ciancio said the fire was difficult to access because the house is located on a steep hillside. So rather than being able to drive in, firefighters had to get to it by foot.

Shortly after arriving on scene, incident command requested that Highway 20 be closed both ways temporarily, according to scanner reports. The closure was in effect a little more than two hours due to the firefighting effort, with the highway reopened shortly before 2:30 p.m.

“We were drafting water out of the lake so we had hoses across the highway and that was the reason for asking CHP and Caltrans to shut the highway down in both directions,” Ciancio said.

Ciancio said it took about 45 minutes to contain the fire.

He said the home’s second story looks to be a total loss, and the house isn’t currently habitable.

In addition to Northshore Fire, Cal Fire and Lakeport Fire also were part of the firefighting response, Ciancio said. All units had been released by 3 p.m.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Night sky centered on the south Galactic pole in a so-called stereographic projection. In this special projection, the Milky Way curves around the entire image in an arc. The stars in the stream are displayed in red and cover almost the entire southern Galactic hemisphere, thereby crossing many well-known constellations. Background image: Gaia DR2 skyma. Credit: Astronomy & Astrophysics.


Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes the work of researchers from the University of Vienna, who have found a river of stars, a stellar stream in astronomical parlance, covering most of the southern sky.

The stream is relatively nearby and contains at least 4,000 stars that have been moving together in space since they formed, about 1 billion years ago.

Due to its proximity to Earth, this stream is a perfect workbench on which to test the disruption of clusters, measure the gravitational field of the Milky Way, and learn about coeval extrasolar planet populations with upcoming planet-finding missions. For their search, the authors used data from the ESA Gaia satellite.

Our own host galaxy, the Milky Way, is home to star clusters of variable sizes and ages. We find many baby clusters within molecular clouds, fewer middle-age and old age clusters in the Galactic disk, and even fewer massive, old globular clusters in the halo.

These clusters, regardless of their origin and age, are all subject to tidal forces along their orbits in the Galaxy. Given enough time, the Milky Way gravitational forces relentlessly pull them apart, dispersing their stars into the collection of stars we know as the Milky Way.

"Most star clusters in the Galactic disk disperse rapidly after their birth as they do not contain enough stars to create a deep gravitational potential well, or in other words, they do not have enough glue to keep them together. Even in the immediate solar neighborhood, there are, however, a few clusters with sufficient stellar mass to remain bound for several hundred million years. So, in principle, similar, large, stream-like remnants of clusters or associations should also be part of the Milky Way disk." says Stefan Meingast, lead author of the paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Thanks to the precision of the Gaia measurements, the authors could measure the 3D motion of stars in space. When carefully looking at the distribution of nearby stars moving together, one particular group of stars, as yet unknown and unstudied, immediately caught the eye of the researchers. It was a group of stars that showed precisely the expected characteristics of a cluster of stars born together but being pulled apart by the gravitational field of the Milky Way.

"Identifying nearby disk streams is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Astronomers have been looking at, and through, this new stream for a long time, as it covers most of the night sky, but only now realize it is there, and it is huge, and shockingly close to the Sun" says João Alves, second author of the paper. "Finding things close to home is very useful, it means they are not too faint nor too blurred for further detailed exploration, as astronomers dream."

Due to sensitivity limitations of the Gaia observations, their selection only contained about 200 sources. An extrapolation beyond these limits suggests the stream should have at least 4000 stars, thereby making the structure more massive than most know clusters in the immediate solar neighborhood.

The authors also determined the stream's age to be around one billion years. As such, it already has completed four full orbits around the Galaxy, enough time to develop the stream-like structure as a consequence of gravitational interaction with the Milky Way disk.

"As soon as we investigated this particular group of stars in more detail, we knew that we had found what we were looking for: A coeval, stream-like structure, stretching for hundreds of parsecs across a third of the entire sky,” said Verena Fürnkranz, co-author and Masters student at the University of Vienna. "It was so thrilling to be part of a new discovery" she adds.

This newly discovered nearby system can be used as a valuable gravity probe to measure the mass of the Galaxy. With follow-up work, this stream can tell us how galaxies get their stars, test the gravitational field of the Milky Way, and, because of its proximity, become a wonderful target for planet-finding missions. The authors hope to unravel even more such structures in the future with the help of the rich Gaia database.

Based on the article by Meingast et al. 2019, A&A, 622, L13.
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At left, State Sen. Bill Dodd and California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announcing the introduction of Senate Bill 290. Courtesy photo.

SACRAMENTO – California has seen the cost of fighting wildfires grow to record highs over the past decade.

On Thursday, State Sen. Bill Dodd, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma proposed a new model to reduce wildfire risk with California Disaster Insurance, Senate Bill 290.

SB 290 authorizes the governor, insurance commissioner and treasurer to enter into an insurance policy that pays out when California has unexpected costs for disaster response.

California Disaster Insurance would function like home insurance, but for the state – allowing the state to pay a premium using a portion of existing emergency funds that would trigger a payment to the state in the event of a disaster.

“Rising wildfire suppression costs can strain California’s financial resources and threaten cuts to critical programs,” said Sen. Dodd, D-Napa. “As climate change continues to contribute to devastating infernos, we need a strategy to reduce the pressure on state and community coffers. This bill would do just that, allowing the state to invest in an insurance policy to ensure budget predictability and reduce taxpayers’ exposure to increasing costs associated with disasters, especially wildfires.”

“In seven of the last 10 years, our firefighting costs have exceeded our budget projections – by $450 million in 2017 alone,” said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “California Disaster Insurance is a better solution that gives taxpayers the benefit of predictable costs, so we can invest in a safer future. As we confront destructive climate-drive events, we need to be open to new models that reduce risk to our communities and budgets. California Disaster Insurance is our first response.”

“This policy makes annual wildfire suppression costs more predictable, protecting the taxpayers from the volatility that has been seen over the past several years and creating budget stability and preserving other investments,” said State Treasurer Fiona Ma. “It is time for California to be proactive and not reactive.”

California spent $947 million in 2017-18 through the emergency fund for firefighting – nearly $450 million more than budgeted, according to Cal Fire.

The costs of fighting wildfires have overrun Cal Fire’s emergency budget in seven of the last 10 years. Since 2007, California has experienced 11 of the top 20 most destructive fires in its history.

The federal government, the World Bank, and the state of Oregon have all used insurance to reduce the risk to taxpayers following disasters.

The state of Oregon has purchased insurance protection against ever-changing wildfire costs for nearly 40 years – spending $61 million on premiums and receiving $102 million in insurance payments.

California currently pays for wildfire disasters with available funds, and California Disaster Insurance will come from those same sources.

Giving California greater budget predictability can empower the state to invest to reduce future risks.

SB 290 must be in print for 30 days before it can be scheduled for a committee hearing.
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Lakeport Public Works Department employees work on installing a temporary drainage liner under Hartley Street in Lakeport, Calif., on Thursday, February 14, 2019. Photo courtesy of the city of Lakeport.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With winter storms filling streams and Clear Lake, local officials are closely monitoring conditions in case there is a likelihood of flooding.

This month’s storms rain and snowstorms have caused streams to run high, quickly raising the level of Clear Lake.

The National Weather Service’s observation station network reported the following 72-hour rainfall totals through 12 a.m. Saturday, in inches:

– Bartlett Springs: 5.60.
– Boggs Mountain: 8.97.
– Colusa/Lake County line: 4.98.
– Hidden Valley Lake: 7.48.
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 4.89.
– Kelseyville: 5.44.
– Lakeport: 4.41.
– Lower Lake: 6.15.
– Lyons Valley: 2.81.
– Soda Creek (near Lake Pillsbury): 5.61.
– Upper Lake: 4.55.
– Whispering Pines: 8.64.

The National Weather Service is forecasting rain through Sunday, a break with sunny skies until Tuesday. There is a forecast with a slight chance of rain and snow showers on Wednesday and Thursday before sunny skies return on Friday.

Clear Lake’s level reached the “full” mark – 7.56 feet Rumsey, the special measure used just for Clear Lake – Friday afternoon, according to the California Department of Water Resources’ Data Exchange Center.

The California Nevada River Forecast Center expects Clear Lake to reach the “monitor” stage of 8 feet Rumsey by Sunday afternoon.

Flood stage on the lake is 9 feet Rumsey, which it surpassed in early 2017.

David Cowan, Lake County’s Water Resources director, said there are so far no predictions when – or if – the lake will creep into flood stage.

In response to the high lake level and in anticipation of more inflows, Cowan said Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District was releasing water the Cache Creek Dam.

The dam was releasing 2,670 cubic feet of water per second late Friday night, according to the US Geological Survey stream gauge at the dam.

The cities of Clearlake and Lakeport are both keeping a close eye on the situation in order to respond should the lake move toward flooding.

“The lake is rising rapidly but Clearlake is in a bit of a better situation than Lakeport in that the lake has to get a bit higher here than in Lakeport before we have problems,” City Manager Greg Folsom told Lake County News.

“We have to hit at least 8 feet Rumsey before we begin to have issues. At that point we will detach the docks at Thompson Harbor (Redbud Park) if the lake level is rising to avoid damaging the docks. We also start to have flooding issues on Lower Lakeshore between 8.0 feet and 8.5 Rumsey.”

If the lake hit flood level, Folsom said the city would close Lower Lakeshore to traffic. Around 10 feet Rumsey is when it begins to impact Lakeshore Drive near the Sulphur fire burn area.

“After 10.5 feet Rumsey we could start to have some real problems, but let’s hope we don’t go there. We are in communication with Yolo about keeping the water flowing through the dam at a substantial level,” Folsom said.

Folsom said the city hasn’t had any significant problems with infrastructure due to the winter storms so far, other than a road washout on Boyles Avenue and a small mudslide on San Joaquin Avenue. He credited a lot of work over the summer and fall, cleaning out drains and culverts, with preventing more damage.

In Lakeport, city officials have been closely monitoring the lake level, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen. He said they’re ready to take protective measures if necessary.

He said they look at whether there could be damage to boat and launch facilities. As the lake gets higher, of particular concern are winds and wave action moving toward shore.

In the past, wave action has caused more damage to city and other property than the flooding itself, he said.

Heavy winds and the waves they created damaged the Library Park seawall to the extent that it now needs to be replaced, and also knocked over tables and benches, and damaged other park infrastructure, as Lake County News has reported.

The city has had some damage already because of the storms, Rasmussen said.

On Harley Street, south of the city limits, a drain infrastructure that goes under the road was damaged overnight Wednesday and into early Thursday, causing some undermining of the street base, he explained.

Rasmussen said Public Works crews were on the scene all day Thursday making emergency repairs, including placing a temporary liner for drainage to keep the water flowing and mitigate any further damage. “They’re going to have to go back later with a permanent fix.”

He said the storm action resulted in some damage to a dock from a sailboat that was tied up overlimit.

The city also had to close Martin Street twice since Monday due to flooding, and has also issued advisories due to standing water. “We don’t believe there’s any damage from that.”

As for reports of damage to private property, he said a sailboat that broke free of a mooring and slammed into the shoreline, and on Ninth Street on Wednesday a tree fell on a house on private property, causing significant damage. No one hurt, and while damaged the said the home wasn’t determined to be uninhabitable.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, of Clearlake, Calif., returned to Lake County, Calif., this week for his preliminary hearing, which began on Thursday, February 14, 2019. He’s charged with setting more than a dozen wildland fires, including the devastating August 2016 Clayton fire that tore through Lower Lake, Calif. Lake County Jail photo.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday, the Clearlake man charged with setting 16 fires around Lake County – including the August 2016 Clayton fire – returned to court for his preliminary hearing.

Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, appeared before Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum for the proceeding.

Pashilk is facing 23 charges and three special allegations for setting a total of 16 fires – and trying to set another small fire that extinguished on its own – between July 2015 and August 2016 in the Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks and Lower Lake areas.

Prosecutors say Pashilk set two small roadside fires on the morning of July 2, 2015 – the Judge fires No. 1 and 2 – leading to larger incidents, including the three-acre Arrowhead fire on Aug. 25, 2015, in the city of Clearlake and the five-acre Morgan fire on Morgan Valley Road on July 21, 2016.

After the Morgan fire, Pashilk is alleged to have set seven more fires before, on Aug. 13, 2016, it’s alleged that he set the Clayton fire new Lower Lake, which burned more than 3,900 acres and 300 structures, including just over 200 homes.

Pashilk, who by the time of the Clayton fire had been under surveillance by Cal Fire for a year, was arrested two days after the Clayton fire began. He’s remained in custody ever since, with bail set at $5 million.

He entered not guilty pleas to all of the charges in September 2016.

Pashilk, who for his safety has been kept at an out-of-county facility for most of his time in custody, was returned to Lake County this week for the preliminary hearing. On the first day, four bailiffs were present in the courtroom.

When Pashilk came to court on Thursday, his appearance had notably changed. Rather than long hair and a beard, he was clean shaven, with his dark hair cut short. He wore a green and white jail jumpsuit, and Judge Blum said that his wrist and ankle shackles could be removed for the proceedings.

While most preliminary hearings run only a few hours, or sometimes as long as a day, Pashilk’s is anticipated to run over the course of up to seven court days spaced over several weeks, extending into early March.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who is prosecuting the case, said he originally had anticipated as many as 12 days, but now thinks he can present it in half that time.

Hinchcliff explained that the length of the preliminary hearing is a matter of the case’s complexity as well as its age. He said he believes it’s one of the most complicated and challenging cases to ever be tried in Lake County.

Representing Pashilk is veteran local defense attorney Mitchell Hauptman, who has a record of navigating difficult cases and getting acquittals.

He was not Pashilk’s original attorney. That was J. David Markham, who a year ago became a Lake County Superior Court judge, necessitating finding a new attorney for Pashilk.

Calling the case’s first witnesses

Beginning on Thursday morning and continuing after a lunch break until mid afternoon, Hinchcliff presented his first series of witnesses, all of them Cal Fire employees.

They included Capt. Kelly Blue of the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit; Battalion Chief Sims Hawkins, who also is a Cal Fire peace officer out of Butte County; Engineer Cameron McFadden of the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit; Robert Little, a state urban forester; Capt. Charlie Laird of the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit’s Fire Prevention Bureau, also a law enforcement officer with the agency; and Capt. Kyle Steis, also a peace officer.

Besides being Cal Fire staff, all of them had been involved in investigating or responding to the fires that Pashilk is alleged to have set.

During the several hours of testimony, Hinchcliff questioned each of them as he laid the case foundation, seeking to show through the evidence and their conclusions that Pashilk is a serial arsonist.

Capt. Kelly Blue, working at Cal Fire’s Wilbur Springs station, responded to both the Judge fire No. 1 and No. 2 on the morning of July 2, 2015.

He got the call on the first fire just after 7:30 a.m., getting there by 7:45 a.m. to discover a roadside spot that was about a tenth of an acre in size burning on the north side of a fence on the north side of Highway 20. He said two pedestrians – one with a shovel, the other using his foot – were trying to put it out.

That fire burned annual grasses, not brush, and was set about 30 feet off the highway, off a dirt turnout. Blue said they used a hose lay to control it.

While on scene, he was notified by a passing female motorist of the second fire, located off Walker Ridge Road to the west of the first fire, and the bigger of the two blazes. Blue said that fire also burned in grass, and he said it would have spread uphill had there been wind on it and if it had occurred later in the day, when temperatures were higher and humidity lower. He said early morning was an odd time for a fire.

Blue said the Judge fire No. 2 was about 50 yards down Walker Ridge Road, on the northside of Highway 20. It also was about a tenth of an acre, although he said it was bigger than the first. The second fire, located near a dirt lot that Caltrans uses for staging, also was controlled with a hose lay.

Blue – who conducted the preliminary investigation, with Steis doing the final investigation – said the area where the second fire occurred was not visible from Highway 20 due to an embankment and a wooded hill.

During cross-examination, Hauptman asked about ignition sources.

“Sometimes the ignition source is very obvious,” said Blue.

He said he couldn’t exclude the fire having been caused by a vehicle due to tire tracks and close proximity to the roadway. “In my estimation, it wouldn't be a very likely source but I couldn't exclude it.”

Blue said the dirt lot where the Judge fire No. 2 occurred had a lot of garbage accumulation. But in his preliminary investigation he found no obvious arson or ignition devices.

Also during his testimony, Blue said as he’s thought more about it, he thinks the second fire actually started before the first due to it being slightly bigger. However, he added, “I can't be certain. I wouldn't gamble anything on it.”

He acknowledged having investigated fires where there was no discernable ignition source because the ignition device – such as a lighter – was taken from the scene.

Cal Fire puts Pashilk under surveillance

Battalion Chief Sims Hawkins was involved in the investigation of the Arrowhead fire, which burned three acres on the afternoon of Aug. 25, 2015, in the area of East Lake Drive and Acacia Street in Clearlake.

He said Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta told him of a couple who lived a few houses down from the fire who had surveillance video which they shared with him.

The cameras had views of Acacia Street. In examining the video, Hawkins spotted an early 1990s green Subaru Legacy four-door station wagon traveling southbound on Acacia with both passenger side windows rolled down. He said it matched the 1991 Subaru that investigators knew had been driven by Pashilk because of other surveillance video.

Earlier in August 2015, Hawkins had become involved in investigating the serial arson case involving Pashilk, with about half a dozen Cal Fire personnel having Pashilk under surveillance at that time and meeting regularly to discuss the surveillance activities, he said.

He said that the video cameras from the couple who lived near the Arrowhead fire had a time stamp of 3:47 p.m., while a GPS tracker that investigators had attached to Pashilk’s vehicle recorded it traveling southbound on Acacia, away from the fire at 3:45 p.m. The two-minute discrepancy was attributed to an incorrect time stamp on the cameras. Hawkins said he couldn’t determine who was driving and couldn’t see passengers on the passenger side, but couldn’t confirm if there was someone sitting behind the driver’s seat.

Hawkins also spoke to a woman who discovered what was believed to be slopover or a spot fire from the Arrowhead fire later in the evening on the same day in August 2015.

Engineer Cameron McFadden was dispatched to the Long fire in the area of New Long Valley Road and Highway 20 just after 8:30 p.m. July 29, 2015. The quarter-acre fire burned at a slow rate of spread up a hill in grasses along a wide turnout just east of New Long Valley Road.

In his investigation, McFadden said he couldn’t eliminate the cause as being a vehicle or arson, and couldn’t identify an ignition source because of general damage to the area, including people going in and out of it.

State Urban Forester Robert Little runs the State Urban Forest Program, supervising seven regional urban foresters and working with grantees, cities and nonprofits, became involved in investigating the series of Lake County fires in 2015.

Little was asked to review video footage from cameras Cal Fire had set up at various areas around Lake County in order to look for a Subaru with a specific license plate number on certain days and in certain time periods.

He spotted that vehicle on footage taken at 7:43 a.m. July 2, 2015; at 8:25 p.m. July 29, 2015; at 1:54 p.m. Aug. 8, 2015; and at 8:04 p.m. Aug. 14, 2015.

Capt. Charlie Laird also was involved in the surveillance of Pashilk, and assisted in the investigation of the Arrowhead fire on Aug. 25, 2015. He said he identified a 6-foot by 6-foot origin area and was able to rule out possible causes including a campfire, debris burning, electrical, equipment, lightning, children playing with fire, smoking/cigarettes, vehicles, spontaneous combustion, glass refraction and shooting.

The following year, on Aug. 15, 2016 – the same day that Pashilk was arrested – Laird assisted with searching and processing evidence from another vehicle Pashilk owned, a Chrysler Sebring.

Items seized and documented from the vehicle that investigators believed could have been used as fuel or ignition sources included a shop towel, paper product, a torch, a paper cup, paper and plastic material, a paper napkin, a lighter, a torn paper cup and burned paper matches.

During his cross-examination, Hauptman asked Laird if he found marijuana joints in the car. Laird said yes. Hauptman then asked if he was aware that joints are often lit with matches, to which Laird also responded in the affirmative.

Hinchcliff countered by asking Laird if, in his training, he’d found that wildland fires are often lit by matches. Laird said yes.

Capt. Kyle Steis was assigned to do the origin and cause investigation of the Judge fire No. 2 near Walker Ridge Road in July 2015 as well as the Morgan fire on Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake on July 21, 2016. Both fires were set near road turnouts. The Morgan fire was larger, burning five acres.

Steis and another investigator worked on the Morgan fire, identifying an origin area measuring 5 feet by 3 feet that was located 15 feet off of Morgan Valley Road in a gravel turnout.

He said they concluded that fire was caused by arson, and that it had been brought to his attention that a 1997 Chrysler Sebring that had been seen in other parts of Lake County where fires had occurred also had been seen at some point in the area where the Morgan Valley fire burned.

Hauptman asked Steis, “Standing alone, is there anything about that particular fire that led you to believe it was arson” if the idea of a serial arsonist was removed.

Steis said he tested the hypothesis, noting it was near a turnout on a road that isn’t highly traveled.

He also stated during his testimony that there was no evidence of the fire having been started by a vehicle.

Testimony will continue on Friday.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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The location near Upper Lake, Calif., where a vehicle was swept into Scotts Creek on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. Photo courtesy of the California Highway Patrol Clear Lake Area office.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Three men escaped serious injury on Wednesday when the vehicle they were riding in was swept into Scotts Creek as they were trying to cross a flooded roadway.

The incident, which occurred in the area of Highway 20 just west of Saratoga Springs Road, was initially dispatched as a vehicle into the water at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, according to radio reports.

The responding units from Northshore Fire had trouble finding it at first, and requested that the Northshore Dive Team and Cal Fire also respond, based on scanner traffic.

When firefighters arrived just before 4 p.m., they found one of the men out of the vehicle, trying to rescue the other two, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Joel Skeen.

Skeen said the CHP came on the scene after Northshore Fire, which performed the water rescue.

He said the vehicle involved was a Chevy Silverado pickup.

“The vehicle was swept away in the current and was not located,” Skeen said.

Skeen said none of the vehicle’s three male occupants would provide any identification.

He said two were transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital on precaution for exposure but did not appear to be injured. The third man denied medical assistance, according to reports from the scene.

Skeen said the men had tried to cross a flooded private driveway on the south side of Highway 20 near Witter Springs Road.

The CHP reminds motorists not to drive across flooded roadways, as they’re more dangerous than they appear, as Wednesday’s incident illustrated.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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