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LAKE COUNTY – Several fires were reported around the county late Friday and throughout the day Saturday, resulting in damages including burned vegetation, a destroyed shed and a charred car.
Following two vegetation fires earlier in the week, another similar fire was reported in Clearlake Oaks late Friday.
The fire, which was reported just after 9 p.m., occurred on the Elem Colony, according to Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown.
The blazes that occurred earlier last week were attributed to fireworks, but Brown said they couldn't be certain of the cause of Friday's fire.
Brown said the Friday fire had three different start points spread about 75 feet apart, with about an acre of land being burned.
Three engines responded, Brown said, with the fire being quickly contained. Reports from the scene indicated engines were released at about 9:40 p.m.
Just before 4 p.m. Saturday a structure fire was reported on Lakeshore Boulevard in Nice, according to Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Steve Hart.
The structure in question was a shed attached to a residence, Hart said.
A witness reported three neighbors helped keep the flames down with hoses until the firefighters arrived on the scene.
Five engines – three from Northshore Fire, one from Lakeport Fire and one from Cal Fire – responded to the blaze, which consumed the shed, according to Hart.
Hart said the fire was contained in about seven minutes. The shed was destroyed, with damages estimated at $10,000. The residence was saved, he added.
The fire, according to Hart, was “suspicious in nature.”
In Lakeport at about 6:10 p.m. firefighters responded to a barbecue fire at the Driftwood Apartments at 975 Forbes St., according to Lakeport Fire Protection District Capt. Bob Ray.
Ray said the teenage daughter of the residents in one of the upstairs apartments lit a propane-fired barbecue, which was sitting against a metal railing about 8 feet from the building, and went back inside the apartment.
About a minute later the apartment's residents reported hearing what sounded like an explosion and, when they looked out they saw a fireball, with the barbecue throwing flames out over the railing, Ray said.
“Another neighbor showed up with a garden hose prior to us arriving and partially extinguished it,” said Ray.
An engine from Lakeport Fire responded, with a second engine from Kelseyville Fire canceled before arriving on scene. Ray said the fire was contained within about three to four minutes.
Nobody was injured, Ray said.
He said a 10 foot by 15 foot area of fiberglass roofing covering a storage area was damaged, as was about an 8 foot by 6 foot area of the deck under the barbecue, which was itself destroyed.
Ray said the building itself was not damaged, and that the people involved were “very fortunate.”
He said there appeared to have been a fuel leak between the propane tank and the barbecue itself.
In Lucerne, a vehicle fire was reported just after 7 p.m. at the corner of Country Club and 14th Avenue.
Hart and two Northshore Fire engines responded to the fires, which destroyed the small blue Honda.
Firefighters pried open the trunk and pulled out what appeared to be a baby stroller and some cardboard.
Hart said the driver reported the car had started sputtering, so she pulled over and left the vehicle, returning a short time later to find it fully involved.
He said the fire appeared to have started in the Honda's power distribution system near the firewall.
Hart was concerned that the fire slightly damaged utility lines directly above where the car sat, parked partially on the sidewalk.
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