CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Firefighters quickly contained a small wildland fire that broke out in the city on Sunday afternoon.
The fire was reported at around 2 p.m. Sunday, initially in the area of Highway 53 and 18th Avenue, but dispatch indicated later that the fire was in the area of Dam Road Extension between the Masonic Lodge and the Sears store.
Lake County Fire Protection District and Cal Fire firefighters arriving shortly thereafter reported that power lines were down, the fire had a rapid rate of spread and structures were threatened, with the Masonic Lodge being evacuated.
Shortly before 2:30 p.m., radio reports from Cal Fire officials indicated that the fire was about two acres, with forward progress stopped.
Multiple power lines were reported to be down with one power pole sheared and Pacific Gas and Electric asked to respond to the scene, as firefighters were having trouble fully accessing all areas of the fire due to the downed lines, according to scanner reports.
A power outage resulting from the downed lines was reported to have closed Walmart temporarily, based on witness reports.
PG&E reported that the outage occurred just after 2 p.m. – at about the same time as the fire was reported – and was caused by trees being in contact with electrical equipment.
That account matched radio reports that had indicated that the fire may have been sparked with a tree branch hit power lines, however, the cause of the incident has not yet been confirmed with fire officials.
PG&E estimated that the particular outage in the fire area was not expected to be resolved until 6 a.m. Monday.
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Small wildland fire quickly contained in Clearlake
- Elizabeth Larson
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