LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Communities around Lake County rely on firefighters for many services, from fire protection to medical calls, and in Lower Lake, devastated by the Clayton fire, more than ever they're at the heart of not just protecting the community but rebuilding it.
The Lake County Fire Protection District has been key in helping return Clayton fire survivors to their homes and properties and take the first steps toward rebuilding and recovery.
The fire was contained on Friday at 3,929 acres. It burned around 300 structures, with an updated tally of destroyed homes now at 215, according to county officials.
The fire district has 22 paid firefighters and 20 volunteers, and normally handles 5,000 calls a year in its 165-square-mile coverage area, according to Fire Chief Willie Sapeta said.
Over the last week and a half, Sapeta said the district's operations have had a heightened focus on community assistance and recovery.
On Sunday, Sapeta and his team of firefighters were busy rearranging boxes and pallets of items for fire survivors that have been stacked in the fire house's bay for nearly a week and a half.
Since the afternoon of Aug. 19, when Clayton fire evacuees were allowed to return home, the fire station had been a key staging area for supplies including personal protective equipment like face masks and gloves, plus trash bags, tools, water, pet food, bales of hay, house cleaning supplies and more.
The supplies still left on Sunday took up close to a third of the bay's floor space. Sapeta estimated that three times as many supplies had been there at the beginning.
Originally open 24 hours a day for three days straight beginning on Aug. 19, those hours have been gradually scaled back. On Sunday, the station had opened at 8 a.m. and was closing at 5 p.m., Sapeta said.
Starting this week, the station will be open for supply pickup from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sapeta said.
Those hours will continue until Sept. 12, at which time the district will assess whether they need to be continued, he said.
Sapeta said there has been an “amazing”outpouring of donations from businesses and individuals that have made the giveaway possible.
“Everybody's contributed what they can,” he said.
One of the key donation items has been water. Hardester's sent six pallets of it to the station, Sapeta said.
The water was especially important early on, when the Lower Lake County Water Works District was under a boil water order, which was finally lifted on Friday, the district reported.
Sapeta commended water district General Manager Phil Spooner for his work to get the water system back online.
The items left over from the station's distribution center will be kept in storage in case they're needed for any other future emergencies, Sapeta said.
Lake County Fire Protection District Board Member Mike Dean, who has been on the board for a year and a half, was at the station on Sunday helping give out supplies and arrange upcoming volunteer shifts.
“I'm the go-fer for Willie. What he needed I would do,” Dean said of his work during the time the station has been a distribution center.
Dean also secured the county health permit for the use of the Brick Hall next door at 16374 Main St. as a community center.
With the permission of the district, Susie Novak opened up the Brick Hall on Aug. 20, cooking three meals a day for community members. She invites anyone who wants something to eat or to volunteer to stop in from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily,
On Sunday, Sapeta said the hall, owned by the Lower Lake Volunteer Firefighters Association, will be open and offering meals through the end of September.
Fire survivors who want to arrange to drop in and pick up the needed supplies can visit during the late afternoon-early evening window or can call the Lake County Fire Protection District's main number, 707-994-2170, to arrange a time to pick up items.
A bulletin board of updated recovery-related information has been provided outside of Station 65 for community members, and updates also will be posted there, Sapeta said.
The county's Clayton Fire Local Assistance Center wrapped up its operations in the former Lower Lake Bank building on Saturday, according to Todd Metcalf, the program manager for Lake County Adult Services who also was managing the center.
County Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown, who also is acting as recovery co-coordinator, said that as of Thursday the Local Assistance Center – which had opened Aug. 20 – had registered 433 fire survivors in relation to the 215 homes that were destroyed in the fire.
Metcalf said most of the Lower Lake residents were reached early in the week, and by the weekend traffic had significantly tapered off.
He said the center is now transitioning into a resource center at the Adult Services office, 16170 C Main St. in Lower Lake. Information on agencies that can assist fire survivors will be offered at the center, and also will be shared with the fire department.
Recounting the catastrophe
Both Sapeta and Battalion Chief Charlie Diener grew up in the community and so have perspective about major incident the county has seen in the past.
Sapeta said the Valley fire in 2015 was the biggest disaster to hit Lake County since the floods in the 1980s that impacted the Clearlake Keys and Clearlake, and the 1982 Cow Mountain fire, and most of the first responders on those incidents have since retired.
He said the county's first responders would learn key lessons from the Rocky and Valley fires that would be applied as the Clayton fire unfolded – particularly relating to how evacuations and repopulation were handled.
The Clayton fire began on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 13, after authorities said it was set by Clearlake resident Damin Pashilk.
“My guys have been on it since the initial attack,” said Sapeta.
Sapeta said he has felt at times like he let the community down because they couldn't get the fire stopped before it tore through the community.
However, Sapeta acknowledges that, in reality, “There was really nothing we could do.”
A lesson from the Valley fire applied to the Clayton fire, said Sapeta, was that evacuations were activated more quickly. Evacuations began on Saturday night around Lower Lake.
Starting on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 14, it had seemed like the fire – then about 1,400 acres, just over a third of its final size, with four structures burned – would soon be under control.
However, that afternoon, a northwest wind hit the fire. Sapeta said the main fire began putting off multiple spot fires that quickly became established around Lower Lake.
Reports from the scene indicated the fire continued to jump containment lines and outflank firefighters as it raced through town, burning homes and some businesses downtown.
It even surrounded Station 65, Sapeta said, pointing to the burned areas on the surrounding streets where the fire left its trail.
The fire began heading into Clearlake when, near Walmart, a wind shift pushed it east, out into the Rocky fire burn area, Sapeta said.
Incident command was concerned that firefighters wouldn't be able to get everyone out if the fire continued into Clearlake, which necessitated bringing in heavy air support, including a very large air tanker from Wyoming, based on radio reports.
On Sunday, the closeness of the fire to Clearlake necessitated the portion of the Avenues area known as the Chapman Tract, from Seventh through Davis avenues on the East side of Highway 53, to be evacuated.
Sapeta estimated that a total of 6,000 people throughout Lower Lake and Clearlake had to be evacuated during the height of the fire.
People followed the evacuation procedures well. “It was really seamless,” said Sapeta, adding that it was amazing how well the entire process worked.
There were a few isolated cases in which people refused to leave their homes. Sapeta said in situations like those, firefighters wouldn't leave the people unprotected, which meant that resources were drawn down from the main fire effort.
“Those who don't evacuate really endanger the responders,” he said.
The evacuation area included St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, where 17 patients had to be moved. Sapeta said nine ambulances came from out of county to assist with moving the patients to Sutter Lakeside Hospital. Lake Transit reported its buses also were involved in the effort.
Sapeta said the last Northern California hospital to be evacuated during a wildland fire was Feather River Hospital in Paradise in 2008 due to the Camp fire. That hospital also is an Adventist Health facility.
One of Lower Lake's casualties was the original Station 65. Sapeta said the fire district has retrieved the historic building's plaque and will either use it to create a monument or, if there is an attempt to rebuild the brick building, the plaque will be replaced on it once it's redone.
Asked why he thinks the Clayton fire burned the way it did, Sapeta pointed to a combination of factors including five years of drought, sudden oak death and the prevalence of the bark beetle – “all the same things we've seen throughout California.”
He added, “There isn't anything we couldn't handle after looking at what we survived.”
Returning home
As the district prepared for helping evacuees return home, Sapeta said they once more used what they had learned last year during the Rocky and Valley fires.
On Aug. 19, fire survivors who returned home found themselves part of a repopulation process that had been improved from those lessons, he said.
Sapeta said Fire Capt. Bill Inman, who was working at the station on Sunday, oversaw the repopulation effort that was built on the district's own emergency plans.
The entire focus, Sapeta said, was getting people home so they could start the cleanup and recovery process, which he said the district intends to be a part of every step of the way in the days, months and years ahead.
Sapeta said 20 to 30 engine companies – including units from Cal Fire and strike teams from around the state that had been assigned to the fire – delivered supplies to eight drop-off points in the fire area. The goal, he said, was to prevent people from having to come and go to retrieve the supplies while working on their properties.
At those same drop-off points, Sapeta said the fire district set up portable toilets and handwashing stations, plus dumpsters.
Those returning to their homes, or the remains of their homes to begin sifting through the remains, had firefighter escorts, encountered Lake County Sheriff's chaplains and Lake County Behavioral Health staff, medic crews and assistance dogs, he explained.
In the days that followed, firefighters continued to work through the fire area, dropping off more water and supplies and checking on people to be sure they were all right, Sapeta said.
Sapeta said the dumpsters at the eight locations throughout the fire area will be picked up on Monday. The use of the portable toilets has been donated by Action Sanitation and will remain in place through the end of September.
Last week, the firefighters played another important part in the beginning stages of the community's recovery by helping welcome students at Lower Lake Elementary and Lower Lake High School to their first day of the new school year, which district officials said was delayed by a week due to the fire.
Both schools had some damage due to the fire, and nearly 60 students lost their homes, as Lake County News has reported.
Sapeta said the South Lake County Fire Protection District had similarly been on hand for the first day of school last year when students returned after the Valley fire.
Konocti Unified Superintendent Donna Becnel said the first responders – firefighters and sheriff's deputies – formed a type of receiving line to welcome the students back.
Sapeta said about 20 pieces of fire equipment and 100 firefighters were on hand for the welcome on Tuesday. A REACH helicopter also flew over.
He said the district also will participate in Lower Lake High's homecoming parade and event on Sept. 9.
Based on his interactions with community members, Sapeta thinks most will stay and rebuild.
With the county already moving forward rapidly on the recovery process, the fire district is preparing for its part in that work. Because the fire district is part of the permitting process for homes, Sapeta said Diener will be working to expedite approvals for new homes.
Sapeta said the county's watershed task force also is looking ahead at potential issues of flooding and slides should there be a lot of winter rain.
As for how his firefighters are doing, Sapeta said, “They're tired, but they're stoked,” thanks to the response they've gotten from the community.
That response includes lots of hugs from those they encounter, and messages of thanks.
Just down the street, painted across storefronts, are messages of thanks from fire survivors, who used words including “strong,” “fearless,” “courage,” “teamwork,” “honor” and “loyalty” to describe what the firefighters – and their efforts – meant.
When it comes to the community, Sapeta said, “We definitely, genuinely care about them.”
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.