LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters are still in the thick of the battle to contain a wildland fire that began in Clearlake Oaks before moving over the hill and into the city of Clearlake, destroying properties and blackening thousands of acres.
The Sulphur fire, which began early Monday morning, remains active and dangerous, officials said at a Monday evening town hall held specifically to discuss the incident.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta told community members at the event, held at the Clearlake Senior Center, that the Sulphur fire was estimated to have burned 2,500 acres, with only 5 percent containment.
“That’ll definitely improve through the night,” he said.
A positive piece of news is that, thus far, officials have not confirmed any deaths directly attributable to the Sulphur fire, Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News after the Monday night meeting.
Martin said there were a few deaths reported during the evacuation process, however, they were not suspicious in nature.
He added that they are still checking on people and have not been able to get into some fire-impacted areas.
That’s in contrast to the fire-related death toll in other parts of the region, where it’s reported that at least 10 people have died, including one confirmed by Cal Fire in Mendocino County’s Redwood Complex.
What Sapeta and other local and state officials couldn’t answer on Monday was how many structures had been destroyed or damaged in the blaze, one of more than 14 major incidents burning around Northern California since late Sunday and early Monday morning.
Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott told reporters during a Monday briefing that damage assessments on the region’s major fire incidents hadn’t yet begun at that point, and it was a process he expected to see get under way over the coming two days.
The situation was the same in Lake County, where on Monday Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink, incident commander for the Sulphur fire, and Sapeta said they were still engaged in active firefighting and so hadn’t yet been able to catalog the destruction or report where specifically it had taken place.
The chiefs said that initial damage assessment process is expected to start on Tuesday in an effort to inform residents of the status of their homes.
Hampering the move from response to recovery is the continuing active nature of the fire and dynamic weather conditions.
Lake and other fire-impacted counties have been under a red flag warning since Sunday.
The National Weather Service issued that warning through Tuesday due to the forecast of high winds and critical fire weather.
As it turned out, those predictions all came true in unexpected and horrifying fashion across Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, as well as other parts of the North State.
Reports from the firefighting effort on Monday indicated that the wind had shifted 180 degrees and was now coming from the southwest, with cooler temperatures and higher humidity aiding firefighters.
However, dry northeast winds are back in the forecast beginning on Wednesday morning, which could once again hamper efforts to contain the fires and get displaced residents back home.
Meanwhile, City Manager Greg Folsom on Monday was able to report that no city facilities had burned.
However, he was at that point not sure about the condition of city infrastructure, noting that power remained out on the west side of Clearlake.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported that 2,500 people in and around Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks remained without power nearly 24 hours after the outage was reported. Residents of Lucerne who were out of power for more than 16 hours had their power restored on Monday afternoon.
The Clearlake Police Department on Monday emphasized that the mandatory evacuation area in Clearlake is closed to the public, and that it’s a crime to remain or enter into the closed area.
Clearlake Police Department interim Chief Tim Celli said his department is being aided by numerous other local law enforcement agencies in round-the-clock patrolling of the evacuation area in an effort to provide for the security of property. Anyone contacted in the closed is subject to arrest, he said.
Celli said that 4,900 evacuation notices had been sent to residents on Monday.
Two shelters were opened in Lake County, one at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown – which had filled up – and the second at Grace Church, 6716 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.
Because of the fire and evacuation situation, some schools will remain closed on Tuesday, officials said.
Konocti Unified School District Superintendent Donna Becnel said that all her district’s schools will be closed on Tuesday due to the fires and evacuations.
The Lake County Office of Education said other school districts around Lake County are planning to be open on Tuesday.
At the college level, both the Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College and all Mendocino College sites will remain closed on Tuesday.
In other fire-related news, on Monday Golden State Water Co. issued a precautionary boil water notice to approximately 500 Clearlake residents along Lakeshore Drive, north of and including San Joaquin Drive, in the evacuation area.
The precautionary boil water notice was issued due to a temporary loss of pressure in parts of the Clearlake system as a result of the Sulphur fire.
“When the water system loses pressure, even temporarily, it is possible for contaminants to enter the system,” said Dawn White, water quality manager for Golden State Water. “We have no evidence of anything harmful entering the system, but issued the precautionary boil water notice until test results can demonstrate that the water is safe.”
Golden State Water will inform impacted customers when they no longer need to boil the water.
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.