Mendocino Complex acreage held down again; fallen firefighter goes home
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Mendocino Complex was held to a small gain in acreage on Wednesday as it continued to burn actively on its Ranch fire portion, while the firefighter killed on the lines this week was returned home to Utah.
The incident reached 364,145 acres with containment up to 67 percent by Wednesday night, an increase of 300 acres and three percent, respectively, since the morning, according to Cal Fire.
The complex is composed of the Ranch and the River fires, the latter Cal Fire said was fully contained on Monday at 48,920 acres.
Meantime, the Ranch continues to grow, reaching 315,225 acres and 67 percent containment by Wednesday evening, Cal Fire reported.
The Ranch fire became deadly on Monday when it claimed the life of a firefighter, Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett of the Draper City Fire Department in Draper City, Utah.
Burchett’s body was escorted in a procession from Ukiah to Santa Rosa on Wednesday, then flown back to Utah on a California National Guard plane.
The complex has been destructive in other ways as well. The Cal Fire damage assessment totals on Wednesday remained at 265 structures destroyed and 36 damaged.
Cal Fire said the Ranch Fire continues to burn actively in the Mendocino National Forest as well as threaten communities that reside north of the fire perimeter, including Lake Pillsbury.
The firefighting effort continues to be challenged by the steep and rugged terrain, dry fuel, and hot weather continue, fire officials said.
Two large smoke columns rose from the incident on Wednesday afternoon, visible from north Lakeport and the Northshore.
Cal Fire said crews continued to construct control lines and implemented new dozer lines, tying together preexisting containment barriers, especially north of the Snow Mountain Wilderness.
Firefighters also have continued to work on structure preparation and defense in the communities threatened by the Ranch fire around Pillsbury and Stonyford to the east, according to fire reports.
Officials said operations overnight were focusing on the northwest and northeast edges of the Ranch fire, while continuing to prepare for controlled firing operations to improve containment lines as conditions allow.
On the fire’s south side, near the Northshore communities, Cal Fire said crews continue to do suppression repair work and patrol status.
On Wednesday at around 6:30 pm., a structure fire was reported off Bartlett Springs Road – halfway between Indian Valley and Bartlett Springs – in the Ranch fire area.
The fire in the doublewide mobile home threatened other structures and was being worked by a helicopter and crews that came both from the Ranch fire and Northshore fire.
It was not clear from initial radio reports what started the fire.
Cal Fire said assigned resources on Wednesday included 3,483 firefighting personnel, 225 engines, 90 water tenders, 33 helicopters, 64 hand crews and 61 dozers.
Cal Fire continues to anticipate the complex will be fully contained by Sept. 1.
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