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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – More progress was made in fully containing Lake County’s Sulphur fire on Wednesday, but other fires around the region continued to grow steadily.

Cal Fire’s Wednesday evening report said that the Sulphur fire, burning since early Monday near Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks, remained at 2,500 acres, with containment up to 45 percent.

Damage assessments remain under way in the fire area, with no total yet given on damaged and destroyed structures.

Sheriff Brian Martin had reported earlier this week that he believed there were as many as 150 burned residences, primarily in the city of Clearlake.

While some evacuees in the city of Clearlake were allowed to return home on Tuesday evening, many Sulphur fire area residents remain evacuated, officials reported.

The Sulphur fire has been combined with the Mendocino County Complex – composed of two major fires in Potter and Redwood valleys – and renamed the Mendocino Lake Complex.

With a need for more firefighting personnel, Cal Fire officials reported that resources were being moved off of the Sulphur fire in order to fight the fires in Mendocino County, which by Wednesday night had scorched 30,000 acres, were 5-percent contained and prompting more evacuations.

The Mendocino County complex’s death toll has doubled to six lives lost, with the number expected to grow, according to Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.

Allman said it’s the biggest disaster for the county of Mendocino since the Jonestown Massacre of 1978.

Weather conditions around the North Coast contributed to what Tim Chavez, a fire behavior analyst with Cal Fire, called a “perfect storm” during a Wednesday briefing on the Mendocino Lake Complex.

Chavez said that, normally in mid-October, fire danger on the North Coast is rapidly going decreasing.

“This year, something’s going on,” he said.

For the 16 days prior to the Sunday night fire storm that set off storms around the North Coast, the relative humidity was never above 40 percent during the day and night, Chavez said.

He called the conditions “very unusual,” and explained that the result was fuels that were extremely dried out. When the winds hit on Sunday night, the fire moved fast – in the case of the Mendocino County complex, it moved about four miles in two hours, causing devastation.

“Those conditions, except for the wind speed, really haven’t changed,” said Chavez.

He added, “This still remains as very challenging fire.”

On Wednesday evening officials also increased the mandatory evacuation area in Potter Valley and issued new evacuation warnings in Potter Valley as well, with that warning area covering locations stretching to the Lake County line.

Elsewhere around the region, there was significant growth on major fire incidents on Wednesday.

The Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma counties, which has continued its push toward Lake County, resulted in the Lake County Sheriff’s Office issuing a Wednesday morning advisory evacuation notice for the Middletown area.

The fire’s growth and movement also led to a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday afternoon for all of the city of Calistoga, according to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office.

By nightfall, the Tubbs fire had grown to approximately 27,363 acres and 10-percent containment, Cal Fire said.

While on Wednesday evening fire mapping showed that the Tubbs fire had not moved into Lake County’s borders, with ever-changing conditions and a red flag warning still in effect for Lake and surrounding counties, authorities are on high alert.

“We’re not out of the woods,” Sheriff Brian Martin told community members at a meeting at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown on Wednesday evening.

Later on Wednesday night, Napa County officials said all mandatory evacuation orders were remaining in place.

The Sonoma County Coroner's Office on Wednesday said it had confirmed another two deaths due to the Tubbs fire, bringing the death toll to 13.

Another fire nearing southern Lake County is the Pocket fire, burning near Geyserville.

It grew by thousands of acres on Wednesday, reaching an estimated 4,000 acres by nightfall, with no containment reported, according to Cal Fire.

The Pocket fire’s rapid growth led to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office issuing mandatory evacuations in Geyserville, extending on Highway 128 east to River Rock Casino, and south on Highway 128 to Geysers Road up to Calpine.

Fire mapping on Wednesday night also showed the Pocket fire to still be some distance away from Lake County’s border.

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. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday afternoon issued an evacuation advisory notice for the Lake Pillsbury Basin area due to fire activity in nearby Mendocino County.

Lt. Corey Paulich said this advisory was issued due to fire activity related to the Mendocino County Complex burning in Redwood and Potter valleys.

Paulich said residents should only use Elk Mountain Road while leaving the area.

Communication in the Pillsbury Basin is limited and the sheriff’s office is asking residents if they have contact with anyone in that area to please pass this information on to them, Paulich said.

Do not go to the area to deliver this information. Paulich said the sheriff's office will be sending personnel to the area to make the notifications.

An evacuation advisory is not a mandatory evacuation, but it is strongly recommended, Paulich said.

Residents are advised to gather their medications, pets and important papers. Paulich said residents should be prepared to leave the area with little notice.

If the situation worsens the sheriff’s office will issue a mandatory evacuation notice, Paulich said.

Anyone who is evacuating and in need of shelter can go to the evacuation shelter at the Seventh-day Adventist Church located at 1111 Park Way in Lakeport.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the sheriff’s declaration of a local emergency due to the Sulphur fire, and got updates on conditions.

The fire began shortly before 1 a.m. Monday on Sulphur Bank Drive near Clearlake Oaks before burning over the hill and into the city of Clearlake.

Sheriff Brian Martin on Monday declared a local emergency, and during the brief special Tuesday morning meeting the board unanimously approved a resolution to ratify the declaration.

Firefighters on Tuesday continued to hold the fire at 2,500 acres, raising containment to 30 percent by nightfall.

Board Chair Jeff Smith called for a moment of silence for the fire victims across the state at the start of the meeting.

It would later emerge that Smith and his wife lost their Clearlake home of 31 years to the fire.

Martin acknowledged how well Smith was handling his own loss in the midst of the wider community tragedy.

In his update to the board, Martin explained, “This fire quickly grew, driven by high winds.”

He said the winds were up to 50 miles per hour, and he experienced them himself while on his way to the scene.

“We’re dealing with this fire with some limited resources,” Martin said.

He said more than 18 fires started in a 24-hour period throughout the state.

Martin said Cal Fire’s Incident Management Team 4, which managed the Rocky and Valley fires in 2015, is overseeing both the Sulphur fire and the 26,000-acre Mendocino County Complex. The team is headquartered at the fairgrounds in Ukiah.

He said both the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army are involved in the emergency response, with the Red Cross managing the shelters and the Salvation Army preparing meals.

“As with previous fires that this county has experienced, our main concern is public safety,” Martin said.

“We need to make sure the areas are safe enough for people to return to their homes,” he said, adding that considerations include hazardous materials, downed power lines and hazardous trees.

Regarding the danger from fire-damaged trees, Martin said he had been informed that a piece of Cal Fire equipment had been destroyed by a tree in the Sulphur fire area.

Martin also reported that Pacific Gas and Electric is continuing its efforts to get power restored in unburned areas.

He said that Gov. Jerry Brown declared a statewide emergency in response to the fires that originally did not include Lake County. That’s because Lake County at that time was still in the process of making its own disaster declaration.

Once the county’s declaration was completed, Martin said Lake County was added to the statewide emergency. The governor’s office reported declaring a state of emergency for Lake County on Monday.

Martin said during the meeting that the city of Clearlake did its own separate disaster declaration.

Gov. Brown’s request for a presidential major disaster declaration included Lake County, Martin said.

Just a few hours after the meeting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that President Trump had approved the declaration, making federal disaster assistance available to California in the wildland fire recovery.

Martin said he had toured the fire area, and while he didn’t yet have a definitive number of homes destroyed, he estimated it could be as many as 150.

At that time, the Community Development Department has put together four damage assessment teams that were going to move through the fire area to get a more accurate county, according to Martin.

The vast majority of the burn area is in unincorporated county, in very rural and unpopulated areas, Martin said.

He said it appeared to him that most of the structures that burned were within the city of Clearlake, where most of the evacuees also live.

Supervisor Smith said the fire jumped around in strange ways. He said there are clusters of homes where one home in the middle is burned and others are untouched.

He said it also took out homes built five years ago with stucco and metal roofs that were thought to be fire safe.

The board voted 5-0 on the resolution ratifying Martin’s emergency declaration.

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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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In response to the Sulphur fire, the Clearlake City Council this week will discuss approving a local emergency and consider updated regulations related to marijuana dispensaries.

The council will meet in closed session starting at 5:30 p.m. to discuss a case of anticipated litigation before the open portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

One of the main items of business Thursday will be the ratification of a local emergency due to the Sulphur fire, which began shortly before 1 a.m. on Monday and has burned 2,500 acres and destroyed an as-yet unconfirmed number of structures in and around the city.

City Manager Greg Folsom told Lake County News he declared a local emergency due to the fire early on Monday. The council must now take action to ratify it.

Also on the agenda, the council will hold a public hearing to consider two ordinances, one relating to commercial marijuana, or cannabis, and the second to update the city’s existing marijuana dispensary ordinance.

The draft commercial ordinance includes, among other things, creation of a commercial cannabis business overlay zone, allowance for up to 12 cannabis business use permits and the requirement for a development agreement, while the new marijuana dispensary rules call for allowing deliveries without dispensary storefronts and includes changes to allow for the business overlay zone.

Other items on Thursday’s agenda are proclamations declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and a presentation by City Clerk Melissa Swanson on the city’s Halloween trick-or-treat party.

Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers, Resolution No. 2017-77 to declare surplus property and consideration of a second reading setting procedures for expediting permitting processing for electric vehicle charging stations.

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. -- According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the evacuation shelter, previously located at the Grace Church in Kelseyville,
has been relocated to the Seventh Day Adventist Church located at 1111 Park Way, Lakeport.

Anyone in need of shelter as a result of the Sulphur Fire are encouraged to go to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Lakeport.

The phone numbers for the shelter are 707-496- 5878 and 707-530-1560.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Officials hosted a second town hall to update the community on the Sulphur fire on Tuesday evening.

The hourlong event was held at the Clearlake Senior Center.

Representatives from the city of Clearlake, the county of Lake and Cal Fire gave the latest on the fire, which has burned 2,500 acres since it began early Monday morning.

During the meeting it also was announced that some residents who had been forced to evacuate would be allowed to return home.

The full meeting can be seen above.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Several schools and the county’s two community colleges are expected to remain closed through the rest of the week due to fire conditions, officials said Wednesday.

While containment on the Sulphur fire near Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks is rising, there are concerns about other fires around the region that have led to advisory evacuation notices in Middletown and the Pillsbury Basin, as Lake County News has reported.

For the rest of the week, schools will be closed in the Konocti Unified School District, as well as Middletown Unified and the Clearlake Community School, according to Rob Young, the Lake County Office of Education’s emergency services and special projects coordinator.

Young said Kelseyville Unified will be closed on Thursday. No decision has yet been made for Friday.

Local schools planning to be open on Thursday include the Upper Lake, Lakeport and Lucerne Elementary school districts, Young said.

At the community college level, Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus in Clearlake has suspended classes for Thursday and Friday, according to Executive Dean Annette Lee.

Mendocino College is keeping its campuses in Lake and Mendocino counties closed through Sunday due to the region’s fire, according to spokesperson Jessica Silva.

Silva said that closure covers the main campus in Ukiah, the North County Center in Willits, the Lake Center in Lakeport and Coast Center in Fort Bragg.

She said all classes and on-campus activities will resume on Monday.

No damage has been reported at the Lake County school districts or at the community college facilities, officials said.

Silva said the North County Center has not had power but they were hoping to have it restored on Wednesday.

Mendocino College also is making bathroom and shower facilities in the Ukiah Campus’ Athletic Building open for public use 24 hours a day. Towels, shampoo, soap, and other hygiene items are provided, Silva said.

Additionally, Silva said tent camping will be allowed on athletic fields as well as RV/camper parking in the parking lots. The college does not have hook-ups, however, the restroom and shower facilities are available to everyone.

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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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday morning issued an advisory evacuation notice for residents in the Middletown area due to the approach of the Tubbs fire.

The sheriff's office is currently monitoring fire activity from the Tubbs fire in Napa County and the agency said it has become necessary to issue an advisory notice due to the fire’s proximity.

An evacuation advisory is not a mandatory evacuation, but it is strongly recommended.

Residents are advised to gather their medications, pets and important papers, and should be prepared to leave the area with little notice.

If the situation worsens the sheriff’s office will issue a mandatory evacuation notice.

Cal Fire said the Tubbs fire, which began late Sunday night, has so far burned 28,000 acres and more than 570 homes.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service is warning of more critical fire weather potential this week due to the arrival of more strong winds and low humidity.

The agency has issued another red flag warning for parts of Northern California, including Lake and neighboring counties, from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday.

A red flag warning – a combination of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures – means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly.

The National Weather Service said increasing north to northeast wind and low humidity will generate critical fire weather conditions again over Interior Northern California beginning on Wednesday.

Although wind is not expected to be as strong as the Sunday to Sunday night event – which whipped up devastating fires around the region – the forecast warns that more dry, offshore winds could rapidly spread current and any new wildfires.

The specific Lake County forecast predicts winds of up to 10 miles per hour in the fire area, with wind speeds into the mid-20s in southern Lake County.

The forecast also calls for daytime temperatures into the high 70s into early next week and nighttime temperatures down into the 40s.

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. – The Lake County Air Quality District on Wednesday said that air quality conditions have continued to degrade as a result of the large wildland fires burning around the North Coast.

Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart issued an air quality alert warning of “unhealthy for sensitive individuals” to “unhealthy for everyone” conditions due to continued high levels of smoke and other air pollutants lingering in Lake County.

Gearhart said the smoke and haze currently visible through areas of Lake County are primarily the result of the Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma counties, the Atlas and Partrick fires in Napa County, the Nuns Fire and Pocket fires in Sonoma County, the Mendocino County Complex fire in Mendocino County, and localized impacts from the Sulphur fire in Lake County.

He said other active fires in Northern California may add to the smoke impacts in Lake County.

The Sulphur fire was being held at 2,500 acres with containment at 40 percent, according to Cal Fire.

The Tubbs fire’s approach to Lake County had prompted an advisory evacuation notice from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday morning.

The sheriff’s office issued another advisory evacuation for the Lake Pillsbury Basin on Wednesday afternoon because of the growth of the Mendocino County Complex.

Gearhart said current particulate levels in Lake County have been in the “unhealthy” range in many areas with short periods of improved air quality since late afternoon on Monday.

He said the highest levels of smoke are expected to continue into Thursday, though the air quality monitoring models indicate Lake County may get clearing winds from Wednesday through Thursday, which could significantly improve local air quality.

However, those same winds could increase fire activity locally and around the region, and are the reason for a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service that’s in effect until 5 p.m. Thursday, 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. – Firefighters tripled the amount of containment on the Sulphur fire on Tuesday, with some residents of the city of Clearlake allowed to return to their homes on Tuesday night.

Cal Fire said the Sulphur fire, burning since early Monday in and around Clearlake Oaks and Clearlake, remained at 2,500 acres, with containment up to 30 percent.

The growing containment allowed city of Clearlake officials allowed to lift some of the mandatory evacuations in effect in the city since Monday, as Lake County News has reported.

City, county and fire officials on Tuesday began the process of assessing damage due to the fire.

Sheriff Brian Martin said he did not yet have firm numbers, but estimated as many as 150 homes were destroyed by the fire, with most of burned structures in the city of Clearlake.

One area where the damage was reported to be minimal is the Elem Indian Colony in Clearlake Oaks, near where the fire had started shortly before 1 a.m. Monday.

None of the more than 20 homes on the tribe’s 80-acre rancheria were damaged, according to a statement from the tribe on Tuesday. 

City officials also held another town hall on Tuesday night to answer questions and share information.

At that point, Clearlake Mayor Russ Perdock said there had been no loss of life due to the fire.

Elsewhere around the region, the fire-related death toll grew.

The Sonoma County Coroner’s Office raised the number of dead in its jurisdiction to 11, while Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said there were three dead in the Mendocino County Complex. Two other deaths have been reported in Napa County.

In response to questions at Tuesday night’s town hall about the fire’s movement, Lake County FIre Chief Willie Sapeta explained, “The fire isn’t going in any one direction.”

He said the fire was located primarily on the back side of Eastlake Drive, all the way up to the top of Sulphur Bank Drive where there is a hard closure at 18th, Bush and Sulphur Bank, as well as past Mendocino Street off of Lakeshore Drive on the gooseneck, and just on the east side of Windflower Point.

A map of the Sulphur fire in Lake County, Calif. Map courtesy of Cal Fire.

As firefighters increased containment on the Sulphur fire, conditions in Napa and Sonoma counties on Tuesday afternoon remained critical, with new fire incidents, erratic fire activity and new rounds of evacuations.

At various points, officials reported having little or no resources to respond to the new incidents.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol closed Highway 29 over Mount St. Helena at Western Mine Road in Middletown as well as on the Napa County side while firefighters worked in the area, as Lake County News has reported.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office later said firefighters were in the area working on the Tubbs fire.

Clear Lake Area CHP Officer Kory Reynolds told Lake County News on Tuesday evening that the closure was to remain in effect overnight. He did not know at that time when it might reopen.

Sheriff Martin was in the south county on Tuesday evening to assess the situation.

He told Lake County News he was monitoring the activity on the 28,000-acre Tubbs fire on the opposite side of Mount St. Helena, noting that the fire was at that time moving toward Lake County.

Martin said there were no immediate threats and he had not called for evacuations or advisories for southern Lake County.

Nonetheless, residents in the south Middletown area were encouraged to prepare for the possibility that evacuation might be necessary by gathering medications, important papers, and having a plan to move your pets and animals.

Other progress in relation to the fire was made on Tuesday, with President Trump approving a major presidential disaster declaration requested by Gov. Jerry Brown on behalf of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma and Yuba counties due to ongoing wildland fires.

Brown had declared a state of emergency in Lake and other counties on Monday.

Sheriff Martin also declared a local emergency due to the Sulphur fire on Monday, with the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday to unanimously ratify the declaration.

Supervisor Rob Brown also told community members at the Tuesday night town hall that the county is committed to helping the city, and the agencies already are working together on the path forward.

“Recovery started yesterday,” he said.

Brown also reported that work is under way to establish a local assistance center in the city to help fire survivors begin the recovery process.

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.
The Sulphur fire continued to actively burn in neighborhoods in Clearlake Park, Calif., on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Photo by Kurt Jensen.
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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – One of Lake County’s tribes, which was in the path of the Sulphur fire, said it’s rancheria has largely been unscathed by the incident.

The Sulphur fire began early Monday near the 80-acre rancheria that’s home to the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians.

While the rancheria was touched by the fire, tribal officials said that none of the twenty-plus homes located there were damaged by the Sulphur fire.

There were reported to be some evacuations.

When the fire hit, it knocked out a local transformer leaving the residents without power, the tribe said.

“Tribal leadership is working with Lake County Tribal Health to provide water and breathing masks to members,” said Tribal Chairman Agustin Garcia, who does not live on the reservation.

Garcia said the tribe also is working with the California Office of Emergency Services to coordinate the delivery of generators to reservation residents.

Tribal leadership will also contact the Central California Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for assistance.

Those wishing to provide assistance to the tribe can call Garcia at 707-533-6347.

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