- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Region’s fires burn actively despite cooler conditions
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – While Northern California is experiencing cooler temperatures, fire conditions remain serious around the region, where a new fire is growing rapidly and firefighters are working to contain two others.
Northern California’s newest incident is the Klamathon fire in Siskiyou County, which began Thursday afternoon.
Cal Fire said it has burned 8,000 acres and is 5 percent contained, with evacuations remaining in place for the community of Hornbrook.
Media reports have so far attributed one death and at least a dozen burned structures to the Klamathon fire.
The fire had reportedly jumped Interstate 5 at one point, which led to a temporary closure on Thursday, but on Friday Cal Fire said the interstate had been reopened in both directions.
The governor issued a state of emergency due to the Klamathon fire on Thursday.
On Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the temporary closure of three public facilities and properties in Siskiyou County because of the Klamathon fire, including the Iron Gate Hatchery along the Klamath River, the Klamathon Road fishing access below Iron Gate Hatchery and the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area north of Yreka between Interstate 5 and Iron Gate Reservoir. Although closed to the public, CDFW's Iron Gate Hatchery remains staffed and operational for the time being.
In Lake County, work continues on the Pawnee fire, which has burned 15,000 acres since beginning on June 23. The last estimate of containment on Thursday was 92 percent; Cal Fire said it won’t issue an update on the Pawnee fire until Friday evening.
The region’s biggest fire, the County incident in Yolo and Napa, continues to burn actively. The size grew slightly to 88,375 acres, with containment up to 37 percent, Cal Fire said.
So far, damage inspection teams have confirmed that it’s burned nine structures, with 110 remaining threatened, Cal Fire.
No injuries have been reported on the incident to date.
A dozer was reported to have rolled over on the line at around 1:15 p.m. Friday but the driver was not hurt.
While the region is experiencing cooler temperatures and cloudy conditions on Friday, Cal Fire said higher temperatures, lower humidities and winds are expected to return over the weekend.
The change in weather raised other concerns. Shortly after 1:30 p.m. there was a report of a lightning strike on the north end of the fire, with additional reports of lightning over the fire area.
The fire’s activity has kept mandatory evacuations in effect west of State Highway 16 to Berryessa Knoxville Road, south of Old County Road 40, and North of County Road 53, west of State Highway 16 to the Yolo/Lake County Line, north of County Road 40 and south of the Yolo County line, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said Berryessa Knoxville Road, from the Pope Creek Bridge to the Napa/Lake County line, remains closed, as does Highway 16 between State Highway 20 and Rumsey Hall.
With need rising elsewhere around the state, resources on the County fire began to be rolled back.
The assigned resources on Friday included 3,831 personnel, 307 engines, 53 water tenders, 19 helicopters, 86 hand crews and 72 dozers.
Cal Fire expect the County incident to be fully contained on July 12.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
070618 County fire progression map by LakeCoNews on Scribd