LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters and weather conditions combined to gain a significant edge on the Valley fire by day's end Tuesday, holding the fire to only a few hundred acres in growth during the day and doubling containment.
The Valley fire had grown to approximately 67,200 acres by Tuesday night, with 30-percent containment, Cal Fire said.
California Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said that of the 12 major wildland fires now burning around California, the Valley fire remains the most significant and highest priority incident, with officials focusing on the needs of the fire’s victims.
“I would say that the Valley fire in Lake County will be one of the top 20 most devastating fires we’ve seen in California,” he said.
He said this fire season has been the most extreme he’s seen in 30 years.
The fire began on Saturday afternoon on High Valley Road in Cobb. Since then, it has swept across southern Lake County, and crossed into Napa and Sonoma counties.
During its first few days, the fire scorched tens of thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of homes.
On Tuesday, however, its advance slowed considerably.
One of the key factors helping with the firefight on Tuesday was a factor that often creates greater danger – wind.
Due to a low pressure system moving across the county that is expected to bring a small amount of rain on Wednesday, “We knew there was going to be a shift in winds,” said Cal Fire Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal.
Originally, the winds were expected to hit Tuesday evening, but Lowenthal said the wind arrived early.
Lowenthal said Cal Fire used the direction the wind was pushing the fire – along with its aircraft – to direct the fire into the burn scar of the Butts fire, which burned 4,300 acres in Lake and Napa counties in July 2014.
The main fire activity on Tuesday was in the southeast portion of the fire that had crossed into Napa County, well above Aetna Springs, Lowenthal said.
“It's putting up a lot of smoke,” he said.
It was in that area that the fire had most of its 200 acres of growth during the day, said Lowenthal.
He said a small amount of growth in the fire’s Sonoma County portion was due to firing operations in The Geysers. That operation sent up some smoke that could be seen from Lakeport.
Radio traffic on Tuesday night indicated the fire was calming down, and that fire growth was continuing to slow.
The National Weather Service is forecasting rain on Wednesday, with rainfall amounts expected to be between one-tenth of an inch and a quarter-inch over the fire area.
Lowenthal said Cal Fire continues to receive a lot of questions from the public.
He said Cal Fire is encouraging citizens to go to evacuation shelters to see maps and speak to public information officers.
Damage assessments continued on Tuesday, although Lowenthal could not say specifically where they were taking place.
The tally of destroyed homes remained at 585 by day's end, according to Cal Fire, with 7,650 structures still under threat. That was down from a high of 9,000 threatened homes.
When the day started, a total of 19,000 people remained evacuated. But that number dropped after thousands of residents of the Rivieras communities were allowed to return to their homes.
Mandatory evacuations remaining in place by day's end included Butts Canyon Road to the Napa County line, including Berryessa Estates; Cobb; Seigler Canyon; Loch Lomond; Middletown; Point Lakeview to Soda Bay Road; Hidden Valley Lake; all residences on Bottle Rock Road from Harrington Flat Road; all residences on Highway 175/Cobb; and all residences on Highway 29 at Highway 29 south on Highway 29 to Tubbs Lane in Napa County.
In Napa County Berryessa Estates and Aetna Springs Road west of Butts Canyon Road are under mandatory evacuation orders.
By Tuesday night, officials reopened Highway 29 to all traffic between Kelseyville and the intersection of Highway 53 in Lower Lake, with feeder roads on the south side of the highway remaining closed to residents due to fire activity.
Highway 29 south of Highway 53 remains closed to all non-emergency traffic, as do several other roadways in Lake County, including Bottle Rock south of Highway 29, Highway 175 south of Highway 29, Red Hills Road, Diener Drive, Seigler Canyon and Highway 175 at the Dry Creek Cutoff.
In Napa County, Butts Canyon at Aetna Springs Road and Highway 29 at Tubbs Lane are closed, and in Sonoma County, roads that are closed to all but emergency traffic and residents are Ida Clayton Road at Highway 128, Geysers Road at Red Winery, Pine Flat Road at Red Winery and Geysers Road at River Road.
Resources assigned to the fire have continued to grow, with 2,639 personnel assigned by Tuesday night, as well as 289 engines, 67 water tenders, 54 hand crews, 46 dozers, 16 helicopters and eight air tankers, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire has once again located its incident command post at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.
It's been less than a month since Cal Fire last left the facility after wrapping up operations on the Rocky and Jerusalem fires.
At the Lakeport City Council meeting on Tuesday evening, staff reported that the city was offering Cal Fire the use of Westside Community Park as a place to locate resources, because Cal Fire is “busting at the seams” at the fairgrounds.
City Manager Margaret Silveira told the council that she was informed by Cal Fire that more firefighters are expected to be assigned to the Valley Fire than worked the Rocky fire. At its height, the Rocky fire had more than 3,600 personnel assigned.
In other news, schools in the Lakeport Unified, Upper Lake Union High, Upper Lake Union Elementary and Lucerne Elementary School districts are set to be back in session on Wednesday after all county school districts were closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Officials said Kelseyville Unified and Konocti Unified School District will be returning to school on Monday, with every effort being made to open Middletown schools that day as well.
On the air quality front, conditions on Tuesday improved, with the Lake County Air Quality Management District reporting that air monitors in Lakeport and Clearlake indicated the air quality in the northern portion of Lake County was in the “good” range, with those conditions expected to continue.
Isolated areas and areas in close proximity to the fire may experience unhealthy air quality when smoke is present due to high levels of fine particulates, the district said.
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.