Firefighters make critical gains on Mendocino Complex; resources shifting to Ranch fire area
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The fourth-largest wildland fire complex in California history grew by nearly 40,000 more acres on Sunday as it pushed further into forest lands in Lake County and east into Colusa County.
The Mendocino Complex reached 266,982 acres and 33-percent containment on Sunday night, according to Cal Fire.
The largest of the complex’s two fires, the Ranch fire, is up to 218,319 acres and 23-percent contained, while the River fire is 48,663 acres and 58-percent contained, Cal Fire said.
The boundaries of the two fires still have not touched, although they have continued to creep closer together and appear to be less than two miles apart in the area of Scotts Valley Road near West Highway 20, based on state mapping.
That growth between the northern edge of the River fire and the southern boundary of the Ranch fire, however, appears to have stalled thanks to containment lines fire officials said have been completed between Scotts Valley Road and Blue Lakes near Highway 20.
Firing operations planned for Sunday night and early Monday morning also are expected to strengthen containment, according to Cal Fire Incident Management Team 2 Operations Section Chief Charlie Blankenheim.
The Ranch fire, which burned into the scar of the June Pawnee fire on Saturday, has shown the most aggressive growth, gaining nearly 40,000 acres in size since Saturday night and throwing spot fires over one mile ahead of the main fire, according to Mendocino National Forest spokeswoman Punky Moore.
Cal Fire said more resources are now working the incident, including approximately 3,781 firefighting personnel, 432 engines, 89 water tenders, 15 helicopters, 57 hand crews, 80 dozers and an unspecified number of aircraft.
With some evacuations called off in the north Lakeport area, the number of structures threatened on Sunday was reduced to 9,300, Cal Fire said.
However, an updated damage assessment from Cal Fire showed a growing toll, with 130 structures – 68 residences and 62 other buildings – now reported destroyed, and 26 structures – 12 homes and 14 others – damaged.
The good news, according to Cal Fire, is that favorable weather allowed firefighters to get in and directly fight the fire in some areas.
That stable weather system occurred on Sunday morning, and Cal Fire said it gave ground and air opportunities to suppress the fire’s growth.
However, conditions continue to change quickly, and on Sunday afternoon lower humidity and higher winds caused the Ranch fire’s activity to increase and push forward as it has in previous days to the south, east and northern portions of the fire.
State fire mapping shows that the Ranch fire spread northward toward Lake Pillsbury overnight. Moore said firefighters initiated dozer line overnight from the Eel River northeast toward Elk Mountain Road to protect the residences around Lake Pillsbury, and to attempt to keep the fire out of the Pine Mountain Project.
She said the fire slowed around Little Round Mountain on Sunday morning.
The fire also has continued to move east toward western Colusa County. Over the court of the last few days, it has passed the northern end of Indian Valley Reservoir and continued approaching Leesville.
To the north lies the community of Stonyford. As of Sunday evening, the Ranch fire hadn’t reached there yet, Blankenheim said.
“The fire is still quite a ways from Stonyford,” he said, explaining there is fire line at the toe of the slope where the forest comes out of the hills before Stonyford.
While the Ranch fire is expected to continue moving north toward Stonyford, Blankenheim said they feel pretty good about where they've placed line to keep it out of that community. “We do have a plan to keep it out of the structures in Stonyford,” he said.
Moore said crews were working on dozer lines along the Stonyford-Lodoga Road and around Stonyford.
She said the favorable conditions on Sunday on the southeastern side of the fire, included favorable visibility that allowed aircraft to use retardant drops to reduce the fire spread while firefighters on the ground built dozer line down the eastern edge of Bear Valley.
Moore said the Mendocino National Forest’s Stonyford Work Station is closed until further notice due to mandatory evacuations on the Ranch fire.
Firefighters gaining ground
During a Sunday evening community meeting held at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport, Blankenheim gave an overview of the gains and the challenges on the River and Ranch fires.
Blankenheim’s Incident Management Team 2 is familiar with Lake County, having worked here during the 2015 Rocky and Jerusalem fires, according to Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones, who also spoke at the Sunday meeting.
“It’s been a real good day on the River fire,” Blankenheim said.
On the southern portion of the fire, near Highway 175 and Lakeport, all of the fire line is tied in, mop up has been completed and equipment is moving out, he said.
Up through Scotts Valley, where last week some of the most furious fire activity had occurred, the situation was looking good on Sunday evening, with fire line tied in, Blankenheim said. He said the situation was the same on the Mendocino side of the incident.
Blankenheim said two firing operations, expected to burn between 2,000 and 3,000 acres, will take place along the River fire’s northern edge in the Scotts Valley area overnight.
The successes on the River fire led to the reopening of Highway 20 between Highway 101 and Highway 29 on Sunday. Highway 29 south of Highway 20 also reopened in both directions. Highway 20 east of Highway 29 remains closed, officials said.
The situation on the Ranch fire was more dynamic and active on Sunday, according to Blankenheim.
He said the Highway 20 corridor from Upper Lake to Clearlake Oaks looks very good. However, he said the fire is still active along the highway coming out of Upper Lake.
Blankenheim said there is dozer line established along the ridges from Upper Lake to Clearlake Oaks.
Firefighters are trying not to use that line on the ridge, however. “We’re going direct wherever we can,” he said, using helicopters to drop water, planes to drop retardant and hand crews to cut lines.
“We’re trying to keep it from coming off the hill,” he said.
Engines are staged and prepped around the communities of Upper Lake, Nice, Lucerne and Clearlake Oaks to protect them, he said.
Blankenheim said the Ranch fire hit the Pawnee fire scar on Saturday. On Sunday, he said firefighters were holding the fire’s progression at High Valley Ridge, where it was backing down in a few places and structure protection was in place.
“The plan for tonight is to continue to go direct wherever we can,” he said, noting there are a lot of spot fires and activity on the Ranch fire.
With the River fire wrapping up, Blankenheim said they have been able to move resources and concentrate aircraft along the southeast portion of the Ranch fire. “We’re really having some good success.”
On Saturday, when the Ranch fire hit the Pawnee fire area, it moved up Indian Valley Reservoir and hit the lake.
He said it then made an 8- to 10-mile run from an area of the map that appeared to be northwest of Hough Springs in Lake County east toward Leesville and Brim Road in Colusa County.
The Ranch fire has crossed Brim Road and has an east wind from the Sacramento Valley on it, pushing it back toward Indian Valley Reservoir. They’re trying to tie it into the reservoir, where Blankenheim said they’re optimistic they can stop it.
Blankenheim said they took direct line from Brim line to Stonyford, and did firing operations Saturday night up to just below Lodoga, where it’s holding well.
If they can pick up the slopover on the fire’s eastern edge in Colusa County overnight, he said they will be good shape from the northeast corner near Leesville to the edge of the fire’s head near Lucerne.
While there is still a lot of potential for spot fires, Blankenheim said they believe they can hold the head of the fire – the active portion heading east – and their No. 1 priority on Monday is to work that area.
He said firefighters will continue to build line up past Stonyford and look for places to bend it back across the Mendocino National Forest. The forest area continues to provide a lot of challenges due to a lack of resources, with the focus on areas where structures are and where the head of the fire is.
Blankenheim said they’re now starting to shift resources and focus to building lines across the northern portion of the Ranch fire.
Line also is being built up out of Potter Valley toward the lake, with a goal of using the Eel River to control the fire’s advance, he said.
Blankenheim said a lot of work on the forest remains to be done, as well as a lot of planning.
Officials are optimistic that the situation is starting to come together after three to four days where their efforts seemed futile and nothing appeared to work, he said, adding that they’re finally feeling like they’re getting a handle on the bottom of the fire.
Sheriff Brian Martin said Sunday evening that mandatory evacuations for the majority of the Northshore are remaining in effect due to the continued fire activity – which can be seen in the hills above the towns.
He said law enforcement patrols are continuing to protect the evacuated communities.
Martin said evacuations will remain in place until it’s safe.
“If we let you in too soon, we’re going to fail you,” he said, explaining some areas remain dangerous and there also are some power outages in fire-impacted communities.
He said authorities will do their best to keep community members safe and get them home as soon as possible.
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