LUCERNE, Calif. – A fire that began in a minivan led to a Wednesday afternoon wildfire that burned two travel trailers and two other vehicles in the hills above Lucerne.
Northshore Fire, Cal Fire and US Forest Service firefighters from the Mendocino National Forest responded to the blaze, which was dispatched just after 2:15 p.m. at the top of Bartlett Springs Road.
Cal Fire's Copter 104 from Boggs Mountain arrived on scene first, followed by Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos.
Air resources worked the fire as ground resources arrived, according to the reports from the scene.
Beristianos said the incident began when a white minivan near two travel trailers caught fire. The fire quickly extended into the oak and pine litter on the ground before moving into the fuel supply for generators being used for the travel trailers.
The fire then burned the travel trailers, one of which was being lived in, with the second being used for storage, Beristianos said.
Altogether, the two travel trailers, two pickups, the minivan and about an acre of ground was burned, according to Beristianos.
“We're very fortunate it was on the top of the hill,” Beristianos said, explaining that fires at the base of hills tend to run upslope.
He said the main fire sent out spot fires but they were going down the hill and not doing much, so firefighters were able to knock them down quickly.
The fire scorched several large pine trees from top to bottom, and also burned into a very large oak tree.
With the fire still burning inside the badly damaged oak, it was decided that the tree needed to be taken down.
That task fell to Cal Fire dozer operator Mike Walton, who knocked the flaming tree down quickly and safely.
Beristianos said the resources that responded to the incident included two engines, two command officers and a water tender from Northshore Fire; three engines and two chiefs from the Mendocino National Forest; and two helicopters, three air tankers, an air attack plane, a dozers, four engines and two chiefs from Cal Fire.
Units remained on scene past 8 p.m. Wednesday, radio reports indicated.
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