High winds hit Lake County overnight; downed trees, power outages and small fires reported
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – High winds overnight led to downed trees and power poles around Lake County and fanned small vegetation fires that firefighters were able to contain.
The heavy winds impacting the county started Monday night and by 2 a.m. Tuesday the National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for Lake County.
The advisory remains in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday above 1,500 feet in elevation, with northeast winds of between 20 and 30 miles per hour and gusts of up to 60 miles per hour in the forecast.
As winds increased late Monday night, power lines were reported down on Lakeshore Drive between Pomo Road and Huntingdon Avenue in Clearlake.
The Clearlake Police Department put out a Nixle alert at 11:12 p.m. saying that Lakeshore Drive was closed in both directions and to avoid the area.
On the Northshore, firefighters responded to a report of a residential structure fire on Widgeon Way in Clearlake Oaks just before midnight.
Radio traffic indicated that firefighters initially were challenged in getting water connections at the site, and that all of the home’s residents got out and were uninjured.
At 12:20 a.m., there was a report of lines down in the area of the 8500 block of Bottle Rock Road in Kelseyville.
Shortly after 12:45 a.m., a fire was reported on Stone Drive that was burning at least one vehicle and threatening structures.
Just after 1:30 a.m., there was a report of a tree into power lines at 2550 Soda Bay Road, and about 10 minutes later a call came in reporting smoke and flames in the hills behind Country Club Mobile Home Park in Lucerne.
Firefighters were able to access the fire just before 2:45 a.m. on the Jones Ranch in Lucerne, based on radio traffic. A battalion chief had been unable to reach it from Bartlett Springs Road due to large trees that had fallen and were blocking the road.
The fire could be seen from other parts of the town as the wind hit it, causing it to flare up over a ridge.
It was reported to be three-quarters of an acre, burning in brush.
Issues with downed poles continued into the early morning, as firefighters reported finding five utility poles down on Highland Springs Road in Lakeport just after 2 a.m., which led to a closure of that road at the intersection with Highway 29, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Highlands Springs Road was expected to reopen shortly before 4 a.m., the CHP reported.
Another report of a downed utility line came in just after 3 a.m. in the area of Spurr Street and Bryce Court in Lakeport.
Pacific Gas and Electric’s online outage map showed several small power outages in Lakeport and Kelseyville overnight.
One outage began at 10:38 p.m. and impacted 22 customers, while 90 more were without power as of 10:47 p.m. At 1:43 a.m. 305 more customers in Kelseyville lost power.
The company did not have estimated times of restoration as of 3 a.m. Tuesday.
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