LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With the final mandatory evacuation lifted for the Cache fire area lifted on Monday, residents who have been evacuated since last week were able to return home and begin the process of recovery.
Some residents were allowed to begin returning home during a two-hour window on Sunday evening, and then on Monday morning, city officials lifted the remaining evacuation order for the area south of 18th Avenue and east of Highway 53.
At the same time, in his capacity as the city’s director of emergency services, City Manager Alan Flora issued a directive on Monday morning that restricts access for those who aren’t property owners, residents, their agents or a specified group of other individuals to an area that includes the area south of Dam Road to Cache Creek, from 16335 Dam Road to the west and the western border of 16535 Dam Road, which is Cache Creek Mobile Home Estates, and areas on Sixth Avenue and Cache Street up to Dam Road.
The fire, which began on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 18, burned 83 acres, destroyed 56 homes — 46 mobile homes and 10 stick-built homes — and 81 outbuildings, officials reported.
Much of the damage was in the Creekside Mobile Home Park, and while fewer homes were damaged in the nearby Cache Creek Mobile Home Park, its water system was destroyed, officials reported.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said Foods, Etc. donated bottled water so Cache Creek Mobile Home Park residents could still go home and have water to drink, cook and do basic washing.
He also praised Frank Costner, general manager of Konocti County Water District and his crew for working to connect Cache Creek Mobile Home Park’s water system to the district’s. That work was still taking place on Monday night.
City officials had reported last week that Konocti County Water District had been poised to take over the park’s system at the time the fire hit.
Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White said Costner’s support for allowing the police department to co-locate a radio site at one of the district’s water tanks a few years ago directly contributed to police being able to communicate during the Cache fire’s evacuations.
An evacuation shelter run by the Red Cross remains open at the city’s senior and community center, 3245 Bowers Ave.
Sabatier said planning is underway to open a local assistance center for fire survivors, with nonprofits ready to offer assistance.
The Lake Area Rotary Club Association also is once again raising funds for fire relief. Donations can be made online or sent via check to the LARCA Emergency Relief Fund, P.O. Box 2921, Clearlake, CA 95422.
The city of Clearlake also has added a Cache fire resources page to its website.
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Cache fire’s last evacuation order lifted; water district works to connect homes
- Elizabeth Larson
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