From left, Jason Harlan and Donald Beets were arrested along with a 17-year-old juvenile by Lake County Sheriff's deputies on Saturday, March 12, 2011, after they allegedly were shooting firearms on a hill above Nice, Calif., with bullets striking a nearby house. Lake County Jail photos.
NICE, Calif. – Reports of shooting in the hills above Nice on Saturday evening have led to the arrests of two men and a juvenile.
Arrested were Donald Anthony Beets of Nice and Jason Donavon Harlan of Lucerne, both 18, and a 17-year-old juvenile from Nice whose name was not released because of his minor status.
On Saturday, March 12, at approximately 5 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of shots being fired near East Butte Street, according to a report from Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said one of the callers residing on Sherman Street reported their home had been struck by one of the bullets.
When deputies arrived in the area, they were led to a dirt road leading into the hills where an expended shotgun shell had been found, Bauman said. While deputies were investigating, they heard more shots being fired nearby in the hills and began searching the area on foot.
As deputies were hiking towards the area where the shots were heard, they encountered a white Honda occupied by several young adults driving towards them, Bauman said. The occupants were detained and identified as Beets, Harlan and the juvenile.
Bauman said Beets was in possession of several unexpended shotgun rounds.
During the detention, deputies located a 9 millimeter handgun and a sawed off 12 gauge shotgun in the trunk of the car, Bauman said.
As a result of their investigation, Bauman said deputies determined all three suspects had been shooting the guns in dangerous proximity to nearby homes and all three were arrested.
Subsequent to the arrests, deputies contacted the residents of the home on Sherman Street. Bauman said the investigation revealed that one of the bullets fired from the handgun had penetrated the home near a sliding glass door and lodged into the living room. The home was occupied by two people at the time.
Beets and Harlan were booked at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility, with bail for each set at $10,000. Bauman said the juvenile was booked at the Lake County Juvenile Hall.
All three were charged with discharging a firearm in a negligent manner, and Beets was also charged with felony possession of the sawed off shotgun, Bauman said.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Tuesday the Kelseyville Unified School District will consider approving a second interim budget report that includes all of the cuts board members identified in meetings last week.
The public portion of the meeting will convene at 7 p.m. in the Kelseyville Unified School District Office board room, 4410 Konocti Road.
The board will be asked to consider approving the district's second interim budget, which it's required to do by March 15, according to a report from District Chief Financial Officer Tiffany Kemp.
The district, which is drawing on its reserves, is not running on a balanced budget and has therefore been placed on qualified status by the state. That status requires oversight by the Lake County Office of Education, which has provided a financial expert to assist with creating a fiscal recovery plan, officials reported.
Kemp writes in her report to the board that a lack of revenue from the state “will most definitely impact education funding significantly.”
She goes on to add, “We are bracing for the deepest cuts yet, with a deficit factor of 19.608 percent and ongoing cuts of $330 per students.”
Kemp's update – which is the preface to the 104-page interim budget report – includes approximately $2,293,400 in cuts the board identified in its budget last week, as Lake County News has reported.
Those cuts include one-time savings of $247,000, $867,700 for 2011-12 and in the 2012-13 school year another $1,178,700, according to Kemp's report.
Other items on the agenda include the Kelseyville Unified Teachers Association initial proposal to Kelseyville Unified School District for negotiations 2011-12 including articles on class size and grievances, and a resolution authorizing borrowing funds for the coming fiscal year, as well as the issuance and sale of one or more series of tax and revenue anticipation notes.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Efforts are under way to contain the water escaping from a leaking levee in the Middle Creek area while officials assess how to repair the damage.
The 1950s-era levee is located off of Reclamation Road – between Nice and Upper Lake – and along a section of Rodman Slough on Clear Lake.
Lake County Water Resources Director Scott De Leon said he received a report at around 9:30 a.m. Monday that the levee was leaking.
The leak is located at the site of two large pipes that stretch from a nearby pump station through the levee and into the Rodman Slough. De Leon said the leak was next to the larger pipe.
“The water's gotten in alongside of the pipe,” and formed a channel for the leak, said De Leon.
When he arrived on scene at around 10 a.m., De Leon estimated that about 100 gallons of water a minute was escaping the hole that had developed in the levee.
The Lake County Office of Emergency Services had arranged the help of two California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation hand crews, which were on scene and working to fill an estimated 3,000 sandbags.
Working with the crews were three local residents who volunteered their help, among them Philip Rooney and son Matthew, both nearly waist-deep in cold water, placing the sandbags.
Volunteers and two California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation hand crews work to create a secondary containment area to capture water escaping through a breach in a levee in the Middle Creek area along the Rodman Slough in Lake County, Calif., on Monday, March 14, 2011. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
The levee is maintained by the California Department of Water Resources. An advance team of three Department of Water Resources officials arrived shortly before 2 p.m., and said a flood fight specialist with the department was en route to assess the damage.
Although the National Weather Service in Sacramento issued a flash flood warning that was in effect until Tuesday morning, officials at the scene were not expecting widespread flooding.
However, voluntary evacuations were in effect for six homes in the area based on the recommendation of the Office of Emergency Services, De Leon said.
Hand crew members toss sandbags to each other while creating the containment area on the breached levee along the Rodman Slough in Lake County, Calif., on Monday, March 14, 2011. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
In addition to Lake County Water Resources and Lake County Office of Emergency Services, Northshore Supervisor Denise Rushing, Northshore Fire Chief Jim Robbins and Deputy Chief Pat Brown, Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, and Robinson Rancheria Tribal Police were on scene to monitor the situation.
More state and local officials continued to arrive throughout the afternoon, bringing with them more sandbags and equipment.
De Leon sent Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe to get a pump to help take some of the pressure off of the leak.
Rushing, who left the site at about 3 p.m., was concerned about the amount of water still escaping the levee.
Water also was coming through the sandbags. “There is a risk that they might not hold,” she said, noting that the teams of emergency responders were continuing to work on the levee.
Lt. Dave Perry of the Office of Emergency Services said area residents with questions about the levee break can call the sheriff's main office at 707-262-4200.
Lake County News will continue to follow the situation as it develops. Watch this site, Facebook and Twitter for updates.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – State and local health officials are monitoring the situation with Japan's damaged nuclear reactors and said they are not recommending taking health countermeasures at this time.
As a result of the recent nuclear power plant concerns in Japan resulting from last week’s earthquake and tsunami, Lake County Health Services has received numerous calls from the public.
Concerned over the potential for released radiation to cause contamination and exposure remotely, callers have specifically contemplated use of oral potassium iodide for its protective effects from radioactive iodine exposure, the agency reported.
However, health officials currently advise against taking these steps.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated that, at present, Japan’s nuclear emergency presents no danger to California.
California Department of Public Health’s radiological health branch has radioactivity monitoring systems in place for the air, water and food supply.
State public health officials reported that they are monitoring the situation closely in conjunction with state and federal partners, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, FEMA Region IX, and the California Emergency Management Agency.
California has a plan of response for radiological emergencies if one were to arise. Plans include the Nuclear Radiological Emergency Program and the National Response Framework.
Although California does stockpile emergency supplies, including potassium iodide (KI) tablets in regions around nuclear power plants, they are not recommended at this time, according to the office of Dr. Karen Tait, Lake County's health officer.
She said potassium iodide can pose health risks to certain people, such as those with allergies to iodine, shellfish, or who have thyroid problems. Dosages can vary and should be only taken as advised by a medical professional.
California has a plan for response to radiological emergencies called the Nuclear Emergency Response Plan (http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/environhealth/Documents/NERP/NERP.pdf). Tait reported that Lake County Health Services has public health emergency plans that coordinate with California Department of Public Health and include procedures for the distribution of “medical countermeasures” when needed.
Tait said the decision to use medical countermeasures is one that must balance risk and benefit. “As long as we are reassured that there is no danger from the radiation releases in Japan, we could do more harm than good by taking potassium iodide, especially in people who have risks for adverse effects.”
Lake County Health Services and other local agencies continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates as needed.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department, Clearlake Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office are extending thanks to local businesses and community organizations for their support and donations which funded this year’s local law enforcement agencies partnership with the National Child Safety Council’s (NCSC) children’s safety educational materials program.
The National Child Safety Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is dedicated to the safety of children.
The NCSC provides more than 300 pieces of educational material about child safety, drug abuse prevention and missing children which are used by approximately 6000 public safety agencies in 40 states.
Examples of the educational books used locally for elementary through high school age children include drug abuse resistance education, school violence prevention, gang prevention, gun safety, internet safety, stranger danger, inappropriate touching, home safety and safe walker-safe rider tips.
Local law enforcement agencies use the materials to promote child safety and educate children in
our schools and throughout our communities.
A statement from the agencies noted, “We are proud to work in partnership with the NCSC, local businesses, community organizations and local school districts in protecting our youth.”
Interested local citizens, businesses, community or youth organizations or school staff may contact their local law enforcement agency for further information or to obtain copies of the educational materials.
The following local organization and business partners in this year’s local law enforcement and
NCSC program are listed below. The police and sheriff's office thanked and commended them for their outstanding support and dedication to their communities.
Lakeport: Early Lake Lions, Lakeport Kiwanis, Northlake Medical Pharmacy, Lannette R. Huffman DDS, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Clearlake RediMix Inc., Alexander R. McGeoch DDS, Lake County Guns, Anchorage Inn Motel and Fastop Convenience Store.
Lower Lake: Epidendio Construction Inc., Lake County Gas.
Upper Lake: Pivniska Trucking LLC, Nor Cal Moto & Speed Equipment.
Middletown: Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, Noble’s Liquor.
Clearlake: Melissa Fanning-Certified Public Accountant, Bob Kraft’s Muffler and Brake, IGA Foods Etc., Tire Pros, Laguna Mexican Restaurant and LaRose Vac & Custom Framing.
Matthew William Bronsert, 41, of Clearlake, Calif., was arrested early on Sunday, March 13, 2011, after leading a police officer and a sheriff's deputy on a high speed chase. Lake County Jail photo.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake man was arrested early Sunday morning after leading a Clearlake Police officer and a sheriff's deputy on a high speed chase, reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.
Arrested was Matthew William Bronsert, 41, according to the report from Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs.
Hobbs reported that at 1:50 a.m. Sunday Clearlake Police Officer Travis Lenz – who had observed Bronsert driving at a high rate of speed on Lakeshore Drive near Old Highway 53 – attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Bronsert's 1986 Honda hatchback at the intersection of Highway 53 and Lakeshore Drive.
Hobbs said Bronsert failed to pull over and evaded Lenz for approximately 14 miles at times reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour.
Bronsert drove to Clearlake Oaks then returned to the city of Clearlake on Sulphur Bank Drive, then traveled through the Clearlake Park area and ended up driving into a field on Eastlake Drive Extension,
Hobbs said.
Hobbs said Bronsert then rammed his vehicle into a marked Lake County Sheriff’s Office Patrol vehicle, which had joined the pursuit at Country Club and 16th Street in Clearlake.
The deputy used the patrol vehicle to make a forcible stop of Bronsert’s vehicle and Bronsert was taken into custody, according to Hobbs.
Hobbs said that after he was medically treated, Bronsert was booked into the Lake County Jail for felony evading and assault with a deadly weapon against the Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, a misdemeanor bench warrant and misdemeanor driving with a suspended driver’s license.
Bail was set at $25,000, according to jail records. Bronsert remained in custody late Sunday.
The only passenger in the vehicle, Angelina Fayette Ketchum, 34, of Clearlake, had exited the vehicle at the intersection of Highway 53 and Highway 20 as Bronsert was driving towards Clearlake Oaks, Hobbs said.
Ketchum was later located and arrested for public intoxication while walking down Highway 53. Bail was set at $1,000. Jail records indicated she was released later on Sunday.
MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities have released the name of a man wanted for a double homicide in Trinity County who later was killed in a Mendocino crash while fleeing law enforcement.
The suspect was identified as 32-year-old Tomas Pitagoras Gouverneur, who had addresses in San Francisco and in the state of Oregon, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Gouverneur died as the result of a Monday evening crash with an oak tree while he was being pursued at high speeds on Highway 162 north of Willits by Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies, Willits Police and California Highway Patrol officers, according to Smallcomb.
He was alleged to have stabbed four people – two of them fatally – in an attack in Kettenpom, located in southern Trinity County, according to the Redding Record-Searchlight. No motive was reported.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The second-annual Kelseyville Olive Festival, an event which focuses on the olive industry in Lake County, as well as other local agriculture, will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at the Kelseyville Olive Mill located at 5625 Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
The festival will feature locally produced olives and olive oil, education and demonstrations, olive oil and olive recipe contests for amateurs and professionals alike, and a variety of other contests and activities for the whole family.
Vendors offering olive-related and other local products will be present the day of the event, offering samples, selling food, soaps, lotions, trinkets, and more, as well as providing educational materials about olives and our local industry.
There is no cost to attend the festival; samples and demonstrations are free of charge. Wine and beer tasting will be available for a fee.
Several related contests will be held up to and during the festival, including a poster contest, amateur recipe contest, olive pit spitting contest, and “people’s choice” contests, such as the professional recipe contest, open to professional chefs and caterers, the olive oil contest, and cured olives contest. For details, contact Livia Kurtz at 707-279-0483.
The Kelseyville Olive Festival is presented by Rosa d’Oro Vineyards and the Kelseyville Olive Mill & Wine Company. Both companies are located in Kelseyville and produce wine and olive oil.
Event proceeds from the silent auction, raffle, wine store sales, and wine and beer tasting will benefit the Lake Family Resource Center.
The Resource Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit agency in Kelseyville that provides several programs in Lake County, including the Healthy Families Program, Rape Crisis Center, 24/7 Community Crisis Line, Behavioral Health Services, Early Head Start, Lake County Tobacco Control Program, Domestic Violence Assistance and the Adolescent Family Life Program. For more information, call 707-279-0563.
For more information about Rosa d’Oro Vineyards, visit www.rosadorowine.com or call 707-279-0483.
For information about Kelseyville Wine Co. and Kelseyville Olive Mill, visit www.kelseyvillewinecompany.com or call 707-279-2995.
The Kelseyville Olive Mill is located at 5625 Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville. For more information about the Kelseyville Olive Festival, contact Livia Kurtz, Rosa d’Oro Vineyards, at 707-279-0483 or visit www.kelseyvilleolivefestival.com.
The Obama administration is only about halfway toward its promise of improving Freedom of Information responsiveness among federal agencies, according to the new Knight Open Government Survey by the National Security Archive, released Sunday for Sunshine Week.
On his first day in office in January 2009, President Barack Obama issued a presidential memorandum instructing federal agencies to “usher in a new era of open government.”
In March 2010, however, the 2010 Knight Open Government Survey found that only 13 out of 90 agencies had actually made concrete changes in their FOIA procedures.
The resulting national headlines sparked a new White House call to all agencies to show concrete change.
This year, the 2011 Knight Open Government Survey found that a few more than half of the federal agencies have complied – up from 13 to 49.
“At this rate, the president’s first term in office may be over by the time federal agencies do what he asked them to do on his first day in office,” said Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which funded the study. “Freedom of information laws exist to help all of us get the information we need for this open society to function. Yet government at all levels seems to have a great deal of trouble obeying its own transparency laws.”
Modeled after the California Sunshine Survey and subsequent state “FOI Audits,” the archive’s series of Knight Open Government Surveys, started in 2002, use open government laws to determine whether or not agencies are obeying those same laws.
Recommendations from previous Knight Open Government Surveys led directly to laws and executive orders which have: set explicit customer service guidelines, mandated FOIA backlog reduction, assigned individualized FOIA tracking numbers, forced agencies to report the average number of days needed to process requests and revealed the (often embarrassing) ages of the oldest pending FOIA requests.
“The Obama administration told us last year that one year was too short a time to show real change,” said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive. “This year’s Knight Survey reveals a glass half full of open government, and some persisting deep problems, including FOIA requests marooned for years in never-ending referrals among agencies.”
The 2011 Knight Open Government Survey team filed FOIA requests with the 90 federal agencies that have chief FOIA officers, asking for copies of concrete changes in their FOIA regulations, manuals, training materials, or processing guidance as a result of the “Day One” Obama memorandum, and the March 2010 White House memorandum from then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House Counsel Bob Bauer.
The Emanuel-Bauer memo told agencies to 1) update all FOIA material, and 2) assess whether FOIA resources were adequate.
Several agencies demonstrated significant changes in their processes, major upgrades to their Web postings on FOIA, and improved responsiveness to requesters.
But others showed no change as of yet, or failed even to respond in a timely fashion to the Knight Survey requests.
In one egregious case, the U.S. Postal Service stated it had “no responsive records.” It said it had never received the Emanuel-Bauer memo asking for progress to be shown in response to President Obama’s first-day call for openness.
“Perhaps the Postal Service lost that memo in the mail,” commented Nate Jones, the Archive’s FOIA coordinator who managed the Knight Survey requests.
He noted that 18 agencies are still working on the request after 117 business days when the law requires 20, and that four agencies did not even acknowledge receiving the Archive’s FOIA request despite numerous calls and faxes.
“That indifference toward FOIA shows just how far some agencies lag behind implementing the law that President Obama called ‘a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government.’”
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
State and local officials, including Lake County Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe (second from left), next to county Water Resources Director Scott De Leon and California Department of Water Resources Incident Commander Mark List, look at an emptied secondary containment area near the breach in the Middle Creek levee between Nice and Upper Lake, Calif., on Monday, March 14, 2011. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Work to repair a breach in a levee in the Middle Creek area continued into Monday evening, with plans for crews to continue efforts to repair the damage on Tuesday morning.
The breach, first reported to Lake County Water Resources at around 9:30 a.m. Monday, resulted in numerous state and local agencies working throughout the day to stabilize the aging levee.
Converging on the site Monday were the Lake County Department of Water Resources, Office of Emergency Services, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Cal Fire, California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation hand crews from Konocti Conservation Camp, Lakeport and Northshore Fire districts, Supervisor Denise Rushing, Robinson Rancheria Tribal Police and California Department of Fish and Game.
Work continued until about 9 p.m. Monday, when Cal Fire and the Konocti Conservation Camp crews were finally released from the scene.
“At this point is looks stable,” said Mark List, incident commander for the California Department of Water Resources.
List said there were plans to leave someone on scene throughout the night to monitor the levee.
He said three hand crews are scheduled to return on Tuesday and continue shoring up the area.
An area around the mouths of two large pipes that extend from Rodman Slough through the levee and to a nearby pump station were sandbagged. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento extended a flash flood warning from 5 p.m. Monday until Tuesday morning. Flooding, however, was not expected.
Sheriff's Lt. Dave Perry, who also oversees the Office of Emergency Services, was on the scene throughout the day Monday, with Sheriff Frank Rivero joining him to survey the situation in the late afternoon.
Perry said there were 20 homes in the area, but only eight were under a voluntary evacuation that the Office of Emergency Services had suggested.
Rivero said the department was not enforcing mandatory evacuations as of Monday evening.
Lake County Water Resources Director Scott De Leon explained that the leak took the form of an underground channel had developed alongside the larger of the two pipes.
That channel had allowed water to begin pushing out of Clear Lake and into the nearby fields.
De Leon, Water Resources and the Office of Emergency Services managed the scene earlier in the day until the arrival of officials from the California Department of Water Resources, which maintains the levee, estimated to have been built in the 1950s.
During the late morning and early afternoon, De Leon and his staff – including Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe – had worked at the scene, putting down sandbags along with local residents who volunteered to come out and assist the crews. Smythe also retrieved a pump to try to take pressure off the breach.
In all, De Leon said the county brought out about 3,000 sandbags and five yards of sand.
Near the levee is a pump station, with two large pipes that extend out from the station for about 30 yards before going under a road that runs parallel to the levee. The pipes then emerge on the other side of the levee berm and empty into Clear Lake.
The efforts Monday included creating a secondary containment area where the pump station pipes emerged from under the easement road that runs along the levee.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m., under the direction of California Department of Water Resources, a contractor began pumping concrete slurry into the leak, which allowed the secondary containment area to be emptied out.
The hand crews then dug into the easement road, using shovels and pickaxes, to locate where the leak had developed alongside the pipe, with more concrete slurry being injected into those holes. Nearby, other inmate crew members worked on building a new sandbag line out closer to the pump station.
At about 7:45 p.m., List began to dismiss the hand crews, which had worked steadily through the day.
Then he and other state Department of Water Resources staff spotted water beginning to force its way out of another hole on the easement road.
The crews had to be called back to begin putting down a new line of sandbags in order to deal with that new leak before finally being released just over an hour later.
The area where the breached levee is located is part of the Middle Creek Restoration Area, the goal of which is to return about 1,400 acres of reclaimed land to wetland.
The project – years in the making, and still many years and dollars from completion – is meant not only to improve the health of Clear Lake by reducing sediment and nutrient loading, but also get rid of the aging levees which are becoming increasingly unreliable.
MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A suspect being sought in connection with a double homicide in Trinity County was killed Monday night in a vehicle crash in Mendocino County.
The man, whose name was not released pending notifications of family, was killed in a crash that occurred at around 7 p.m. Monday, according to a report from Mendocino Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.
At 6:20 p.m. Monday the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office received an agency assist “be on the look out” bulletin from Trinity County Sheriffs Department regarding a double homicide, Smallcomb said.
He said that the Trinity County Sheriff's Office advised they had an outstanding suspect – who they alleged was responsible for a double fatal stabbing – flee Trinity County at approximately 5 p.m. Sunday and a possible route of travel would be Mina Road en route to Highway 162 through Covelo.
Smallcomb said the suspect vehicle was described as a teal-colored, small four-door sedan with Oregon license plates. The suspect was described as a white male adult with a beard.
Deputies left the Willits area en route to Covelo via Highway 162. Smallcomb said that at approximately 6:45 p.m. deputies were driving on Highway 162 towards Covelo when, at approximately mile post marker 10, they parked their car so they could see the roadway and anyone traveling along its path.
Soon after parking along the road, they observed the suspect pass them and continue driving west on Highway 162, according to Smallcomb.
Deputies attempted to make a vehicle stop but Smallcomb said the suspect failed to yield and a pursuit was initiated.
Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies requested the assistance of Willits Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. Smallcomb said deputies followed the suspect at speeds ranging from 60 to 90 miles per hour.
The suspect then turned south onto Highway 101 towards Willits, with a single sheriff's unit continuing the pursuit, Smallcomb said.
Smallcomb said that at approximately mile marker 54 near Appliance Lane, which is north of Willits, the suspect lost control of his vehicle and struck a large oak tree.
Deputies responded to the wrecked vehicle along with medical personnel and observed the suspect had succumbed to injuries received from the accident, he said.
The California Highway Patrol conducted the accident investigation and Trinity County is continuing their investigation into the suspect driver's involvement with the double homicide in their county, according to Smallcomb.
He said a forensic autopsy will be conducted on the decedent later in the week, and authorities are attempting to locate the decedent's next of kin prior to releasing his name.
NAPA COUNTY, Calif. – Downed power lines were ruled the cause of two Sunday structure fires in unincorporated Napa County.
Firefighters responded to the blazes early Sunday evening, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Pete Muñoa, who also serves as Napa County fire marshal.
Just after 6 p.m. Cal Fire units and the Napa County Fire Department were dispatched to power lines down at 360 Clark Way, Angwin in unincorporated Napa County, Muñoa said.
When personnel arrived at the location, they observed dark smoke emitting from the 900-square-foot residence. Muñoa said firefighters took action and opened up the ceiling in the kitchen area as well as an exterior wall to find the fire actively burning.
He said their aggressive suppression efforts confined the fire to those areas, resulting in approximately $40,000 in damage but $110,000 in property saved.
During salvage and overhaul operations a second fire was reported at 358 Clark Way, a 2,100-square-foot duplex next to the original incident, Muñoa said.
Firefighters already at the scene initiated a fire attack and discovered a fire in the wall of the middle bedroom which they quickly extinguished, he reported. Damage was estimated at $15,000 with $230,000 in property saved.
Muñoa said investigators from Cal Fire and the Napa County Fire Marshal’s Office determined both of the fires to have been caused by an electrical malfunction from the downed power lines.
The Red Cross was called in to assist the displaced residents. No injuries were reported, he said.
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