- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Rocky fire acreage increases again, containment begins; evacuation centers consolidated
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The acreage on the Rocky fire near Lower Lake continued to grow on Thursday afternoon, but firefighters also began to get containment on the blaze.
The fire, which began Wednesday near Morgan Valley and Rocky Creek roads east of Lower Lake, had burned 8,500 acres as of Cal Fire's latest report on Thursday afternoon.
Cal Fire said 5-percent containment has been reached on the incident so far.
The fire is primarily affecting wildlands, officials said, and has entered the Cache Creek Wilderness Area and the newly designated Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Area.
However, the Rocky fire also is impacting residents of some areas near Lower Lake, where three structures have been destroyed, with multiple outbuildings also destroyed or damaged, Cal Fire said.
It also has resulted in the mandatory evacuations of some 650 Lower Lake area residents, officials said.
Cal Fire reported that approximately 630 firefighting personnel were assigned to the fire as of Thursday afternoon, along with a total of 60 fire engines, 36 dozers, 14 fire crews, 12 water tenders, 11 helicopters and eight helicopters.
Some of those resources have been brought to Lake County from the Wragg fire in Napa and Solano counties, which remains at 7,500 acres and 80-percent containment, Cal Fire said.
No new evacuations have been reported since 1 a.m. Thursday, according to the Lake County Emergency Operation Center, which opened Wednesday night under the auspices of the Lake County Office of Emergency Services.
Current evacuation orders continue for both sides of Morgan Valley Road to Knoxville Road, Dam Road, Mustang Court, Bonham Road, Quarterhorse, Sleepy Hollow, Jerusalem Grade Road, Spruce Grove Rd (north), Noble Ranch Road and Cantwell Ranch Road, county officials said.
Officials have directed displaced residents to evacuation centers at the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake and Middletown High School.
However, on Thursday afternoon, the Lake County Office of Emergency Services said that the Clearlake evacuation center – which was busy overnight, but had far fewer people on Thursday – was being closed and consolidated with the Middletown High School shelter.
Evacuees are now being directed to the high school, located at 20932 Big Canyon Road in Middletown, telephone 707-312-0395.
An evacuation center for animals remains in place at the Lake County Department of Social Services parking lot, 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway in Lower Lake.
If new evacuations become necessary, county officials said residents will be notified in a variety of ways, including Nixle alerts, 911 reverse telephonic messaging and personal door-to-door notification, or through posts on the Lake County OES Facebook page.
Residents can sign up for the CityWatch emergency notification system at http://www.lakesheriff.com/ by choosing the “Public Resources” tab and selecting “Emergency Notifications” from the dropdown menu.
Lake County residents can sign up for Nixle Alerts by texting their zip code to 888777, or they can sign up online at www.nixle.com .
The Lake County Office of Emergency Services, which is partnering with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Coastal Region in its response to the fire, also has a prerecorded information line set up at 707-263-2360.
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.