- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
More growth occurs on County, Klamathon, Pawnee fires; new wildland incidents reported
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – New wildland fire incidents were reported around California on Friday as the work continued to fully contain several large fires around the region.
Cal Fire, now giving one daily report on the Pawnee fire, said Friday evening that the fire – burning northeast of Clearlake Oaks since June 23 – edged up slightly in size to 15,185 acres, with containment also up to 95 percent. The fire’s estimated containment date continues to be July 10.
A scaled-back firefighting force of 543 personnel, 10 engines, eight water tenders, six hand crews and six dozers remain assigned to the incident, Cal Fire said.
To the southeast, the County fire in Napa and Yolo counties burned several hundred more acres on Friday, rising to 88,375 acres with 42 percent containment. Cal Fire said the incident should be fully contained on July 12.
On Friday, 110 structures remained threatened, with the total destroyed increasing by one to total 10, Cal Fire said. Mandatory evacuations remain in effect in several parts of the fire area.
Conditions have remained challenging for firefighters.
While temperatures were cooler on Friday, lightning was reported in the fire area during the afternoon, and a small wildland fire of about 10 acres to the east of the fire was quickly knocked down later in the afternoon in the area of Fox Canyon.
The Yolo County Office of Emergency Services, along with Cal Fire Incident Management Team 3, will host a community meeting at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Guinda Grange Hall, 16787 Forrest Ave. Representatives from the agencies managing the incident will provide an operational briefing and be available for questions.
As the region’s biggest fire, the County incident still commands a large firefighting force of 3,660 personnel, 270 engines, 56 water tenders, 22 helicopters, 80 hand crews and 69 dozers, Cal Fire said.
However, with new critical fire incidents in other parts of California, resources continued to be reassigned on Friday and into early Saturday, when crews were released from the County fire and sent north to the Klamathon fire in Siskiyou County.
The Klamathon fire, which began on Thursday afternoon near the community of Hornbrook, had as of Friday night taken at least one life and destroyed 15 structures, burning 9,600 acres with 5 percent containment, officials reported.
Friday also saw other major incidents begin around the state.
The West fire began in a heavily populated area of San Diego County near Alpine on Friday morning. Cal Fire said it burned 400 acres and was 5-percent contained by day’s end.
That fire led to evacuations and was reported to have destroyed numerous structures and threatened critical infrastructure.
The incident prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in San Diego County.
On Friday afternoon, another fire – the Irish – began in Amador County,south of Plymouth.
Cal Fire said the Irish fire burned 840 acres and was 40-percent contained on Friday night.
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