- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Valley fire containment at 92 percent, new damage numbers released
SOUTH LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Officials on Friday released new damage assessment numbers on the Valley fire, and said they anticipate the incident will be fully contained early next month.
On Friday evening, the Valley fire remained at 76,067 acres, with containment up a few points to 92 percent, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Smith.
The fire began on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 12, on High Valley Road in Cobb before burning down into Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.
Cal Fire estimated on Friday that the fire will be fully contained on Oct. 5.
At a Friday afternoon briefing, Smith said the investigation into the fire's cause is continuing.
He said Cal Fire investigators began working on determining what sparked the fire early in the incident.
However, Smith cautioned, “It may take months to find the exact cause of this fire.”
Also on Friday, Cal Fire issued an update on structures damaged and destroyed in the fire after it said damage inspection teams completed primary and secondary assessments.
Approximately 1,958 structures have been destroyed, including 1,280 homes, 27 multi-family structures, 66 commercial properties, and 585 other minor structures such as outbuildings and sheds, Cal Fire said.
In addition, Cal Fire said 93 structures have been damaged including 41 homes, seven commercial properties and 45 other minor structures.
The number of confirmed fatalities remains at four, Cal Fire said.
The Valley fire's toll places it in the No. 3 spot among California's most damaging fires, behind the Oakland Hills fire of 1991 and the Cedar fire of 2003, according to Cal Fire.
The extent of the fire's damage also has prompted local, gubernatorial and presidential disaster declarations, as Lake County News has reported.
Sheriff Brian Martin said Friday that the fire is the worst disaster Lake County has experienced.
He's crunched the numbers and estimated that more than 3,600 people – or close to 6 percent of Lake County's population – have possibly been displaced by the loss of homes.
Cobb remains under mandatory evacuation due to the ongoing work of repairing utilities and removing hazards, officials said.
While the evacuation order is remaining in place, Martin said that all traffic access restrictions to Cobb are to be lifted as of 5 p.m. Saturday.
“There have been hundreds of phones calls coming in from people that want to get in,” and as of 5 p.m. Saturday they will be able to do so, he said.
“Please do not take this as a repopulation. For many there won't be a repopulation for a long time as so many homes were lost. It is simply a lifting of the traffic restrictions,” Martin said.
Martin warned of the continued presence in the Cobb area of hazards – including asbestos-laden debris, smoldering trees and ash pits – left behind by the fire.
“Anybody that enters is cautioned that they are doing so at their own risk because there are so many hazards present,” he said.
Utility and cleanup crews will continue working in the area, and Martin urged people who will be accessing the area to be aware of their surroundings.
Martin said the Lake County Office of Emergency Services will make masks, gloves and water available free of charge to people returning to the Cobb Mountain area at two locations: at the fire station in Loch Lomond, 10331 Loch Lomond Road, and Middletown fire station at 21095 Highway 175.
Mop up activities and strengthening perimeter lines, along with rehabilitating the impacts of firefighting operations on the landscape, are ongoing, Cal Fire said.
Hot spots also have continued to be an issue throughout the fire area.
On Friday afternoon, firefighters responded to a report of a wildland fire south of Lower Lake off of Highway 29. Units arriving on scene found a tree burning within the fire perimeter, according to radio reports.
The resources assigned to the incident were rolled back further on Friday, with the total personnel assigned down to 1,849, along with 140 engines, 47 hand crews, 16 dozers, six helicopters and four water tenders, Cal Fire said.
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