CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Firefighters on Tuesday moved closer to fully containing the Boyles fire, which ripped through dozens of Clearlake homes on Sunday.

The Boyles fire, which started at around 2 p.m. Sunday in the area of Boyles Avenue and Dam Road, reached 50% containment as of Tuesday.

Evacuation orders remained active in the immediate fire area while they were lifted for a few areas including Walmart.

Fire officials aim to release and reopen the entire area by this Thursday, according to Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora. He said Tuesday afternoon that there are still some spot fires to work on.

The fire has burned 81 acres, and destroyed 30 homes and 40 vehicles.

No fatalities, injuries or missing people from the fire have been reported by Tuesday afternoon. “Definitely feeling fortunate for that,” said Flora.

More than 4,000 people were evacuated at the height of the event, which had reduced to 2,100 on Tuesday afternoon. The number may drop further Tuesday night after the areas north of 22nd Avenue were changed to “advisory evacuation status,” where properties can be accessed from 40th Avenue.

Flora said 33 people were at the evacuation center at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown on Sunday, 60 on Monday afternoon and down to 10 on Monday night. Flora added that it had been estimated that 10% of the evacuees would use the evacuation shelter.

The Konocti Unified School District said Tuesday evening that Obsidian Middle School, and Blue Heron and Lewis schools all have heavy smoke damage, and so will require full emergency recovery cleaning. Those schools will remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday, with an update expected on Thursday about when they will reopen.

Woodland Community College also reported that the Lake County Campus will be closed for the remainder of the week to conduct precautionary cleaning and installation of carbon filters. The college said all activity has been moved online.

A brief walk at the fire-affected zones found remaining structures, vehicles, vegetation and trash bins on streets covered by pink-colored fire retardant.

On some of the affected residential blocks, the fire had destroyed some homes while having leapfrogged others.

The properties where homes have been burned are marked by a piece of red paper signaling presence of hazardous wastes from the fire. Flora said the Department of Toxic Substances Control will assist with household hazardous waste removal — such as batteries, gas cans and bleach — to ensure safety for people to come back.

“There’s a lot of extra work to be done,” said Flora.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Regarding the reason why it spread so rapidly, Flora said, it was the wind.

The Boyles fire is located to the immediate northwest of the Cache fire which began on Aug 18, 2021 and burned more than 80 acres. The Cache fire destroyed 138 structures including 58 homes.

The Cache fire burned to the south, while the Boyles fire burned to the north.

During a community meeting in the City Hall lobby on Tuesday afternoon — which had been planned well ahead of the fire in order to speak to general community issues — Mayor David Claffey answered questions about the situation.

Claffey said the city is focusing on safety. “We need to rally around our neighbors,” Claffey said.

“The community has stepped up and we really appreciate that,” Calffey said.

While reporting at the Boyles fire area on Tuesday afternoon, Lake County News reporters saw about a dozen fire engines and trucks leaving the scene to the Kelseyville direction. Smoke rose from afar as the fire started burning at Harbor Road that had later expanded to and stopped at three acres.

For more information, see the links below.

Clearlake website: Boyles fire info:
https://www.clearlake.ca.us/490/Boyles-Fire-Info-Resources

Learn about the evacuation areas here:
https://protect.genasys.com/

Sign up for Nixle alerts here:
https://www.everbridge.com/products/nixle/

Email Lingzi Chen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..