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The scene of a fatal crash in Nice, California, on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Photo by John Jensen/Lake County News.

NICE, Calif. – One person was killed in a head-on collision on Highway 20 involving a van and a semi truck on Tuesday afternoon.

The crash on Highway 20 across from the Dollar General was reported shortly after 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Reports from the scene indicated a white Ford cargo van had collided head-on with a semi truck that appeared to have been heading westbound.

Minutes after Northshore Fire units arrived at the scene, they confirmed that one person was dead, with another person having minor injuries. Based on scene reports the fatality appeared to be the van driver.

After the crash, the semi continued traveling westbound and came to rest against a van parked next to the Bent Fir cabinet shop.

The impact with the semi truck pushed that parked van into the side of the shop. Incident command requested a county building inspector respond to check the building’s integrity.

Highway 20 was open to one-way traffic around the scene for a short time after the crash.

About 15 minutes after the fatal crash occurred in Nice, a multiple-vehicle wreck was reported on Highway 20 in the Glenhaven area.

There were reported to be a dozen patients, with two of them flown by air ambulance to regional trauma centers. Three others were transported to county hospitals by ground ambulance, with the rest denying medical transport.

Highway 20 was shut down for a short period of time in the crash area.

Additional details will be published as they become available.

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.
A semi involved in a fatal crash in Nice, California, on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 29, 2019, came to rest against a van which it pushed into a business. Photo by John Jensen/Lake County News.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – The efforts of firefighters are bringing a fire that began near Potter Valley on Sunday evening closer to full containment.

Th Burris fire remained at 350 acres on Tuesday night, with containment up to 75 percent, according to Cal Fire.

It began Sunday afternoon in the area of Highway 20 and Potter Valley Road.

Forty structures remain threatened, and the fire has prompted evacuation warnings along Highway 20 south to Highway 175, east of the Russian River and west of the Lake County line, and the Potter Valley area, Cal Fire said.

Due to a red flag warning in effect for Mendocino County and much of the region – which is set to continue through 4 p.m. Wednesday – Cal Fire said firefighters are patrolling and taking action on any possible spotting outside of the current containment lines throughout the night.

Cal Fire said assigned resources Tuesday night included 962 personnel, 72 engines, six water tenders, three helicopters, 14 hand crews and six dozers.

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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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Pacific Gas and Electric intending to shut off power again on Tuesday to communities due to another wind event, Lake County's schools and community colleges reported that classes have been canceled.

PG&E said late Monday that it intends to cut power to Lake County at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, ahead of another red flag warning.

Hundreds of Lake County residents reported on Lake County News' Facebook page on Monday evening that they still hadn't had power restored from the current public safety power shutoff.

Lake County News checked social media messages from districts and separately confirmed with the Lake County Office of Education that all school districts would be closed on Tuesday.

The rule of thumb for districts has been that if they have power at 6 a.m., they will hold classes. But with power expected to be shut off so soon after that deadline, they have opted to close.

Both Mendocino College and Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus in Clearlake were closed on Monday due to the ongoing shutoff that began Saturday.

Steve Wylie, executive dean of Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus, confirmed that the campus there will be closed on Tuesday due to the newly scheduled outage.

Mendocino College also confirmed on Facebook that classes are canceled on Tuesday.

Current estimates are that an all-clear from the shutoff could come on Wednesday morning, with PG&E's goal being to restore power within 48 hours of the all-clear pending inspections and repair to any electrical equipment damage. 

Schools around the county lost days two to three days each due to the public safety power shutoff that took place beginning on Oct. 9, as Lake County News has reported.

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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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Lake County entering another day without power, schools will once again be closed on Wednesday while local officials wait to hear if an all-clear has been called for the red flag weather conditions.

Pacific Gas and Electric implemented another public safety power shutoff early Tuesday across 29 counties, including Lake, and impacting 597,000 customer accounts, in response to a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service.

That was on the heels of a massive shutoff that impacted 37 counties and 960,000 customer accounts that began on Saturday and also included Lake County.

An estimated 400,000 customers account – including nearly all of those in Lake County – didn’t have their power restored from the weekend shutoff before the Tuesday shutoff began, PG&E said.

Most of Lake County has been without power since Saturday evening.

Local officials reported that about 7 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts had power restored briefly on Tuesday morning before the next shutoff was implemented. The area of power restoration was reported to be in Clearlake.

The County Administrative Office on Tuesday also reported that gas supplies in Lake County are waning due to the combined duration of the shutoffs.

The situation on Tuesday prompted Sheriff Brian Martin to declare a state of emergency in Lake County due to “repeated, extended and continuing Public Safety Power Shutoffs.” The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold a special Thursday morning meeting to confirm his proclamation.

Lake County school districts reported that they will be closed on Wednesday, as power isn’t expected to be restored in time for classes to start.

Mendocino College and the Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College said they also have canceled Wednesday’s classes because of the shutoff.

Sheriff Martin said he’s received information from PG&E that the all-clear for the current wind event could come between 6 and 8 a.m. Wednesday.

That time frame was separately reported by PG&E Chief Meteorologist Scott Strenfel during a Tuesday evening briefing.

Strenfel said that, before giving the all-clear, PG&E will have to confirm weather conditions have improved by monitoring the 600 weather stations in the field.

Inspections and repair to any damaged areas would then need to be completed before power is restored. Company officials said the goal is to have power back on within 48 hours of the all-clear.

Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s senior director of emergency preparedness and response, said Tuesday was an “operationally complex day” as the company restored power to some areas and deenergized others.

At about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the company gave the all-clear for parts of the northern Sacramento Valley; Quinlan said that all-clear had been anticipated at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Quinlan said Tuesday evening that PG&E’s inspections have identified 127 cases of damage so far from the weekend wind event that resulted in its own power shutoff. Damage included wires down, broken poles and vegetation into facilities.

Quinlan said 65 community resource centers are open in the current shutoff area, offering water, wifi and charging capabilities from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily during the shutoffs. Those have been visited by 24,000 customers so far.

The three community resource centers in Lake County are located at the Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; and Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road.

With cold weather coming on and many customers impacted because they use electric heat, Quinlan said there will be 200 blankets at each of the community resource centers for distribution on Wednesday.

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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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As electricity remains off throughout Lake County due to Pacific Gas and Electric’s series of public safety power shutoffs, on Tuesday Sheriff Brian Martin declared a state of emergency.

The emergency proclamation, published below, is in response to “repeated, extended and continuing Public Safety Power Shutoffs,” particularly in light of the threat of the Kincade and Burris wildfires burning nearby.

The Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting on Thursday to confirm the declaration, Martin said.

The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

Martin told Lake County News that the proclamation opens the door to the possibility of assistance for the county from the state government. He said he does not know if the situation will qualify for federal relief.

The proclamation also adds additional penalties for people committing crimes in the emergency area. As an example, Martin said the sheriff’s office is receiving reports of stolen generators.

He said the county is looking for whatever financial help is to be had in responding to the power shutoffs, the first of which began on Saturday evening, to be followed by another on Tuesday morning, both in response to high wind events.

Most of Lake County didn’t get its power back from the weekend shutoff before PG&E initiated the next shutoff on Tuesday, Martin said. It’s the third time the company has cut power to Lake County this month.

He said he received reports of about 7 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 impacted customer accounts being restored – primarily in the Clearlake area – before the second shutoff began.

Problems from the shutoffs aren’t just impacting Lake County, Martin said.

“It’s a pretty significant amount of havoc statewide,” he said.

Martin said the sheriff’s office has full backup power, but he said problems with generators for agencies throughout the county are starting to surface, with generators not intended to run for a week.

Some water districts and the Lakeport Police Department’s generators have started to have problems, he said.

Separately, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen confirmed that the city has had several generator issues, including problems with the one powering his department.

In response, Martin said he’s requested more than a dozen generators from the California Office of Emergency Services and PG&E to help around the county. He said the request is being processed.

Martin said PG&E has indicated an all-clear for the current weather event may be called between 6 and 8 a.m. Wednesday, which would then trigger inspections for damage before power could be restored.

PG&E has stated its goal is to have power back on within 48 hours of an all-clear, which extends the window of power restoration for Lake County into Friday. However, remote areas and areas with damage could be delayed further.

Sheriff Martin’s emergency proclamation is published below.


EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION


WHEREAS, Section 6-5 of the Lake County Code empowers the Director of Emergency Services to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency when Lake County is affected or likely to be affected by a public calamity and the County Board of Supervisors is not in session, and;

WHEREAS, the Sheriff, as Director of Emergency Services of Lake County does hereby find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property have arisen within the County of Lake, caused by the repeated, extended and continuing Public Safety Power Shut­Offs. These events have affected all of Lake County, resulting in the loss of primary and critical public services, including water, sewer, communications and public safety services; and have curtailed the ability of schools to remain in session, and;

WHEREAS, the County is currently under threat from the Kincade Fire to the south which started on October 23rd, 2019 and has spread from Sonoma County into Lake County, and;

WHEREAS, the County is currently under threat from the Burris Fire to the West in Mendocino County, and;

WHEREAS, the County has suffered from, and currently suffers from, repeated, extended and continuing Public Safety Power Shut-Offs which have affected the ability of Cities, Tribes and businesses to provide services to their citizens and customers, and;

WHEREAS, the County was subject to a Public Safety Power Shutoff on October 9th, 2019, and;

WHEREAS, the County was subject to a Public Safety Power Shutoff on October 23rd, 2019, and;

WHEREAS, the County was subject to a Public Safety Power Shutoff on October 25th, 2019, and;

WHEREAS, the County is currently subject to a Public Safety Power Shutoff effective on today's date, after 93% of customers in Lake County have not had their power restored from the October 25th Public Safety Power Shutoff, and;

WHEREAS, the Director of Emergency Services hereby finds:

THAT, the compounding effects of the simultaneously occurring fires and Public Safety Power Shutoffs have exacerbated the negative effects to our County to include, forcing residents to leave their homes, causing spoilage of food, imposing immeasurable financial impacts to local businesses, the inability of residents to heat their homes as nighttime temperatures drop into the 30's which can be especially harmful to children and elderly populations, and leaving people who rely on life-saving medical equipment without power, and;

THAT, these conditions are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of Lake County, and;

THAT, the County Board of Supervisors of the County of Lake is not in session and cannot immediately be called into session;

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that a local emergency now exists throughout Lake County, and;

IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that during the existence of said local emergency the powers, functions, and duties of the emergency organization of Lake County shall be those prescribed by state law, by ordinances, and resolutions of the County; and that this emergency proclamation shall expire 7 days after issuance unless confirmed and ratified by the Lake County Board of Supervisors, and;

IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that said local emergency shall be deemed to continue to exist until its termination is proclaimed by the Lake County Board of Supervisors.

By: Brian L. Martin   
Date: October 29, 2019
Sheriff/Coroner/Director of OES


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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NORTH COAST, Calif. – As containment grew on a Mendocino County fire on Monday, there also were increasing concerns that the fire could jump its lines and threaten the Potter Valley community.

The Burris fire remained at 350 acres with containment up to 50 percent on Monday evening, Cal Fire said.

The fire began on Sunday afternoon in the area of Potter Valley Road and Highway 20 and prompted an evacuation warning for Highway 20 south to Highway 175, east of the Russian River and west of the Lake County line.

Cal Fire said the fire is threatening 40 structures, with none so far been damaged.

However, an impending Tuesday morning red flag warning and a potential for the fire to jump the lines at the Cold Creek Compost Facility spurred the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to issue an evacuation warning Monday night for the Potter Valley area.

If the winds push the fire beyond its contained edge, a full evacuation order could be called for Potter Valley, the sheriff's office said.

The agency urged residents to be prepared to leave immediately should an order be called.

Cal Fire said that approximately 1,008 firefighters are assigned to the incident, along with 77 engines, six water tenders, three helicopters, 15 hand crews and six dozers.

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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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A young Fresno County man died in a solo-vehicle crash on Highway 20 late Sunday night.

The crash occurred on Highway 20 east of Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News has reported.

The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office did not release the name of the 25-year-old man from Selma in its Tuesday night report on the crash, citing the pending notification of next of kin.

The CHP said the man was a passenger in a maroon 2006 Toyota Scion driven by 20-year-old Brandon Sadler of Bakersfield.

At approximately 11:20 p.m. Sunday Sadler was driving his Toyota westbound on Highway 20, east of New Long Valley Road, at approximately 55 to 60 miles per hour, the CHP said.

Sadler related to CHP investigators that he entered a right-hand turn too quickly and applied the brakes.  

He lost control of his vehicle, causing the Toyota to run into the ascending embankment on the north shoulder, the CHP report said.

Due to hitting the embankment, the CHP said the Toyota began to roll over multiple times and landed on the driver’s side. The vehicle came to rest in the eastbound lane, facing a southwesterly direction.  

As a result of the wreck, the CHP said the passenger was rendered unresponsive and succumbed to his injuries. He was pronounced dead on scene by medical personnel.  

Sadler was transported to Adventist Health in Clearlake to treatment of minor injuries, the CHP said.

The report said Sadler was wearing his seat belt while his passenger was not.

The CHP said alcohol was not determined to be a factor in this crash.

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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Buildings at the former Outrageous Waters water park in Clearlake, California, burned early on the morning of Monday, October 28, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Clearlake Police Department.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An early Monday morning fire damaged structures at the former Outrageous Waters water park in Clearlake.

Firefighters arrived at the scene of the fire at the former park, located on Old Highway 53, at about 2:20 a.m. Monday, according to Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta.

By the time firefighters arrived, the remaining structures – including the main building – were well involved, Sapeta said.

Sapeta said Northshore Fire and South Lake County Fire provided mutual aid to Lake County Fire. Lakeport Fire was sending its ladder truck which was canceled en route.

There was concern that the fire could spread the fire to nearby vegetation. “We had some pretty good winds on it at first,” Sapeta said.

He said firefighters were able to contain the fire to the buildings without it spreading.

Firefighters remained on scene until about 8 a.m. Monday, Sapeta said.

There are a large number of homeless who stay in the area, and Sapeta said a search didn't find any signs of anyone.

The fire's cause is under investigation by the Clearlake Police Department and Lake County Fire, Sapeta said.

The park was closed more than a decade ago and the property has since been purchased by a developer. A representative did not immediately respond to an email sent by Lake County News on Monday.

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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On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the launch of a new state website with tools and resources for Californians who have been impacted by wildfires and utility-directed power shutoffs.

The website combines emergency response, recovery and resilience information into a single place for easy access by users.

It is a one-stop portal that includes local and state resources, health services, shelters and housing, preparedness information and more.

“California continues to rise to the challenge of power shutoffs and natural disasters,” said Governor Newsom. “Response.ca.gov provides Californians with a unified portal for critical information during this state of emergency. This site will continuously be updated as needed to provide Californians with the resources they need.”

Response.ca.gov provides Californians with information and resources for current incidents, transportation impacts, vital health services information, shelter and housing locations, unemployment assistance and other state information.

The website also directs users to public safety power shutoff information and preparedness tips. As incidents continue to evolve, the portal will be updated to reflect the latest information and any additional resources the state may develop.

The governor on Sunday declared a statewide emergency due to the dangerous weather conditions.

Then on Monday, Newsom joined the state’s top fire and emergency management officials to provide an update on statewide fire and wind conditions, and announced that California has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant to help ensure the availability of resources to fight the Getty fire.

California has also secured Fire Management Assistance Grants to bolster the response to the Kincade and Tick fires, for which the governor previously declared a state of emergency in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties.

Over the course of the past week, the governor has met with emergency responders, health officials, residents and local leaders in Petaluma, Napa, Geyserville and Los Angeles, and held public briefings regarding the ongoing fire threats and the need to hold utilities accountable for the consequences of their power shutoff decisions.

The governor has also announced a $75 million program for state and local governments to mitigate the impacts of power shutoffs, and unveiled a series of new partnerships and new tools to help secure medically vulnerable populations during these events.

Under Gov. Newsom’s leadership, California passed AB 1054, wildfire safety and utility reform legislation that expands the California Public Utility Commission's ability to hold utilities accountable for their safety record – a central part of the governor’s wildfire safety actions.

The legislation created a new wildfire safety division at the CPUC and a board of independent expert advisors to more effectively regulate the safety of publicly owned utilities.

The law mandated that utilities tie executive compensation to safety performance, invest $5 billion in safety improvements without profit, and go through a new yearly wildfire safety review and certification process.

It also requires new inspections of utility electrical equipment. Under the law, utilities must create a wildfire safety committee in their corporate board, and provide direct board-level safety reporting to the CPUC.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – After nearly a week of rapid growth, the progress of the Kincade fire on Tuesday slowed in the midst of red flag wind conditions.

The work of firefighters kept the Kincade fire’s growth to less than 2,000 acres in the 24-hour period from Monday night to Tuesday night.

On Tuesday night, the fire’s size was up to 76,138 acres, with containment remaining at 15 percent.

Ongoing damage assessments put the number of destroyed structures in Sonoma County up to 189 as of Tuesday night; of those, 86 are residence and seven are commercial, with 96 other types of buildings. The number of damaged structures is now at 39 – 26 homes, one commercial and 12 other types.

Cal Fire said the number of firefighters increased further on Tuesday, now totaling 4,870 personnel, along with 558 engines, 48 water tenders, 27 helicopters, 91 hand crews and 67 dozers.

Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox said the Kincade fire has made it to the edge of the Tubbs burn scar from 2017.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said the fire is inside of south Lake County but on Tuesday he was getting reports that firefighters were getting decent containment lines around it.

The fire’s entry into the south county on Friday prompted Martin to issue evacuation warnings first for Cobb Mountain and surrounding communities and then the Middletown area over the weekend. Those warnings remained in effect late Tuesday.

The Middletown Unified School District reported Tuesday that all schools will remain closed until the evacuation warnings are lifted.

During a Tuesday evening briefing on Pacific Gas and Electric’s ongoing public safety power shutoff, Mark Quinlan, the company’s senior director of emergency preparedness and response, said the California Office of Emergency Services requested that PG&E help scope out areas for more evacuation shelters and size generators for them should they be needed in Lake County.

However, conditions on the fire improved to the point that on Tuesday Sonoma County officials were able to downgrade the northern part of Dry Creek Valley from an evacuation order to a warning, allowing thousands of people to go home.

The area is still at risk from the fire, so Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick urged people to use caution and be alert as they headed home.

He said more than 260 deputies and officers from allied law enforcement agencies, plus 200 National Guard members, are patrolling the evacuation areas.

And they’re not just keeping an eye out for potential looting, but in various cases have offered other help. Essick said Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies helped ranchers feed their cattle and other deputies were assisting returning residents with cutting down downed trees.

Essick said that on Tuesday his agency took three reports of looting in evacuation areas. He described the cases as cold burglary reports made after residents returned to find their homes or businesses had been broken into and items taken.

He said all cases will be investigated and if arrests are made, they will prosecute the responsible individuals to the fullest extent of the law.

The number of arrests for unauthorized entry into evacuation areas remained unchanged at three on Tuesday, Essick said.

Ryan Walburn of the National Weather Service said red flag conditions over the fire area and the region will continue until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Walburn said they were monitoring wind gusts of about 50 miles per hour around Mount St. Helena and about 30 miles per hour in the center of the fire.

Walburn said the winds are expected to die down on Wednesday.

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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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With tens of thousands of Lake County residents still out of power due to a public safety power shutoff implemented on Saturday, Pacific Gas and Electric said it intends to go forward with another weather-driven shutoff starting early Tuesday morning.

The company reported after 11 p.m. Monday that that it was going forward with the new shutoff ahead of a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service that's due to go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and continue until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

For Lake County, the shutoff is expected to be implemented at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, but the times could be earlier by at least a few hours based on past experience with the company's shutoff process.

Lake is among 29 counties with a total of 596,000 customer accounts PG&E said it expects will be impacted.

In Lake County, the specific customer number is approximately 37,441, with 2,170 medical baseline customers – the exact numbers impacted by the shutoff that started this weekend and essentially all of the county's population.

PG&E said that as of its Monday night report 554,600 customer accounts, or 57 percent of the 970,000 accounts it turned off power to over the weekend had power restored.

On Monday evening, nearly 400 Lake County residents replied to an impromptu poll on the Lake County News Facebook page about power restoration. A review of the responses found no reports of power restoration.

That agreed with information provided on Monday evening from officials with the county of Lake, who said they had no reports of power restoration for county residents.

The likelihood going into the next event is that many customers won't see power restored, or that it will be on for a very short time before the Tuesday morning outage is implemented.

An “all-clear” to begin inspections for damaged power equipment may not be given until Wednesday morning, according to local officials, meaning that power could remain out in parts of the county until Friday or later in some remote areas.

The planned outage prompted all of Lake County's school districts to announce that classes on Tuesday were canceled.

PG&E will have three community resource centers available for people to get water, charge devices and use wifi during the outages, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following locations: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; and Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road.

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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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Thanks to a reduction in winds in the fire area, firefighters succeeded in improving containment on the Kincade fire on Monday, but concerns about its potential movement into southern Lake County resulted in an expanded evacuation warning for that area.

Cal Fire said that the Kincade fire grew by another 8,000 acres during the day on Monday, reaching a total of 74,324 acres.

At the same time, containment tripled to 15 percent, with Cal Fire continuing to estimate full containment by Nov. 7.

Ongoing damage assessments confirmed that 123 structures – 57 residences, five commercial and 61 other types – have been destroyed in Sonoma County. Cal Fire said an additional 20 structures have been damaged, including 12 homes, one commercial building and seven other structures.

Cal Fire said the Kincade fire continues to threaten approximately 90,015 structures – more than 80,400 of them homes – across Sonoma County.

Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said the improved conditions on Monday allowed officials to reduce evacuation orders to warnings for much of western Sonoma County.

However, at the same time the fire’s behavior led authorities to expand the evacuation warning in southwestern Lake County, specifically for all residents in the Middletown area south of Butts Canyon Road and Highway 175 to the Napa/Sonoma County lines, including Middletown proper, the Middletown Rancheria, Dry Creek area, all roads off Highway 175 between Middletown and McKinley Drive as well as all of Butts Canyon Road including side streets.  

The Cobb Mountain area also remains under that evacuation order, issued Friday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox said during a Monday evening briefing that those evacuation warnings for south Lake County were triggered by fire behavior.

He said a lot of effort is being focused on the fire’s eastern flank in order to protect Lake County and its residents from the potential spread of the fire.

Fire Chief Mike Blankenheim, the incident commander for Cal Fire, said overall the Kincade fire didn’t make a big run on Monday, with little wind but conditions remaining dry.

He said the fire burned very actively throughout the afternoon in the Mount St. Helena area, and that’s where they focused air tankers, the very large air tanker and helicopters.

Blankenheim said they are doing everything they can to stop the fire from running into Lake County, and working on robust contingencies for Lake County and Calistoga in Napa County if the fire should reach those areas.

The fire ran into the Shiloh Ridge area near Windsor on Sunday, and Blankenheim said firefighters went direct and worked hard on that part of the fire on Monday.

Now, they are getting ready for another wind event expected to arrive on Tuesday, which has led to Pacific Gas and Electric to say it is planning another possible public safety power shutoff, as many customers impacted by the current shutoff still don’t have power restored.

Ryan Walburn of the National Weather Service said there were better conditions on Monday with less wind. However, a new red flag warning is expected to go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and continuing until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

He said on Tuesday there will be a gradual ramp up, with winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour with gusts of up to 30 miles per hour from the northeast.

Those northeast winds are expected to come in off of Mount St. Helena and Cobb Mountain and move across the fire area, Walburn said.

In the afternoon, the warmest and driest period of the day, Walburn said to expect 30 to 40 miles per hour winds, with gusts in the 50-mile-per-hour range, also out of the northeast, which will push the fire back into its footprint.

The most critical period will be on Tuesday night, when winds are expected to peak through midnight before easing on Wednesday, he said.

While it’s not on the magnitude of the weekend wind event, Walburn urged people not to downplay the incoming weather system, as it is still significant.

Walburn added that they don’t see any upcoming wind events in the forecast.

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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