AUGUST COMPLEX – WEST ZONE EVACUATION ORDER FOR LOWER INDIAN DICK ROAD AND BAUER SUBDIVISION IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
WHAT: Mendocino County – Evacuation Order for Zone E.1
WHEN: Effective Immediately
WHERE: ORDER Area of Mendocino County:
Zone E.1: North of Mendocino Pass Road (FH7), east of the Middle Fork of the Eel River, south of Bar Creek, west of Nebo Rock (to include Bauer Subdivision).
ROAD CLOSURES:
FH7 (Mendocino Pass Road) and M1 (Indian Dick Road) at Eel River
NOTES:
The public is reminded to stay vigilant on current fire conditions. Please continue to adhere to road closures and any Evacuation Warnings and Evacuation Orders. Please remember to drive slowly and yield to emergency personnel in the area. There may still be smoke in the respective areas as firefighters continue their suppression operations.
The Mendocino National Forest will remain closed, for updated forest closures, visit: http://www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino
View the most current evacuation map at: https://tinyurl.com/mendoevac
For more information about wildfire preparedness visit: www.readyforwildfire.org
Another giant fire in Santa Rosa. The Glass fire burns in the scars of the Tubbs and Nuns Fires from 2017 across the Mayacamas Mountains into Sonoma County into residential neighborhoods that have been through this before. The fire started east of Napa Valley between Calistoga and St. Helena over the weekend and dry weather and fuels exploded in red flag weather conditions. It was at more than 36,230 acres last night, mostly uncontained. Cal Fire reported over 100 structures already destroyed in Napa and Sonoma counties, and more than 8,500 more were threatened. There were over 68,000 people evacuated and 30,000 more warned.
The Gov. has once again issued a state of emergency proclamation, this time for two wildfires in Northern California, including the Glass fire in Sonoma and Napa counties. It also covers the recently started Zogg fire burning in Shasta County. The Gov. also sent a letter to the President requesting a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration, which would bring federal assistance to the state and local governments. The request covers fires that are also currently burning in Fresno, Los Angeles, Madera, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Diego and Siskiyou counties.
During the ferocious firefight in Santa Rosa, a senior living community was spared. Almost 5,000 people live at the Oakmont Village community which was the scene of an evacuation in 2017 too. Cars stuck on narrow, Highway 12 trying to escape wildfires once again. The Glass Fire surrounding Oakmont on 3 sides, but firefighters got a handle on the massive flames, sparing the community, except for one triplex and two homes. Some of the homes in the community had just been rebuilt after the 2017 wildfires that took thousands of homes. Firefighters went house to house putting out spot fires as embers flew in the wind.
A man the sheriff’s office was looking for has been caught by a police dog. Deputies went to a home in the 26000 block of Sherwood Road in Willits Saturday night on a warrant to arrest Kevin Pike who they say took off on their arrival. He was wanted for violating his Parole. Deputies say they found him in the back of his house, then he started to run down a hill when he saw them. The police dog Ruddick nabbed him and he surrendered after without incident. He was taken to jail and booked for violation of parole and held in lieu of $25,000.00 bail.
Lake County is spared so far moving into the Purple Tier. The Public Health Office put out the word last night that it’s been postponed at least for a week after the county has some outbreaks at senior living facilities and businesses. There have been 559 cases confirmed with 20 new ones since the weekend. That’s about 16 cases/100,000 residents for a couple weeks ago, which should have landed the county in Purple. Right now the positivity is 7.8%, so that’s at the top edge of the Red Tier. Some of the cases were associated with one outbreak so the state agreed to grant the county a week to see if the case rate stays high or wanes again. Dr. Pace says the data for the last week is trickling in and it does look so far like the county will be in the Purple, most restrictive Tier. He says business owners are encouraged to plan for this.
The Mendocino County Sheriff distressed about wildfires and the mounting crime along with the pandemic, says it’s time to step up enforcement. The Sheriff put out a statement yesterday about the armed robbery that occurred Sunday in Willits, the wildfires being the worst in recorded history and now he says he’s had reports of fire personnel threatened, intimidated and ordered by illegal marijuana growers to water their plants. Sheriff Kendall also reports water being taken illegally which causes a problem for fire suppression. But more concerned he says about info he received that criminals were planning to kill deputies if they were caught Sunday. He says the marijuana trade is not victimless and that he gets countless calls about it from residents. He says he supports the legal market, but not illegal dealers, who must be dealt with. He’s asking residents to help him get more staff by chiming in with the board of supervisors.
Both the Mendocino and Lake County Offices of Education are looking for teachers. They’re having several Zoom sessions to talk with those who may be interested. The info is noted on the Eventbrite site for the meetings next week and the two weeks after. They’re offering a two year intern program, then interns get work as teachers as they attend classes. They also get mentoring, coaching and supervisors. The counties are working with the North Coast School of Education who develops teachers and school leaders using innovative methods and ideas in the classroom and schools to get kids interested in going all the way to college. For additional information, contact Deni Dillsaver via email at ddillsaver@lakecoe.org.
More information has been released about that armed robbery over the weekend in Willits. We already knew about one suspect who was caught and named, Jesus Estevan Vargas Jr., was busted after being chased in a Toyota Tacoma. He’s charged with robbery, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy and held on $2,500,000.00 bail. He and two others were accused of wearing body armor, having assault rifles and threatening people, one of whom was reportedly shot as they tried to get away. We have the name of a second suspect who was driving a Chevy Tahoe, charged with the same as Vargas and held on the same amount of bail was Roy Ha. A third suspect shot himself in the head during the chase with police. He was flown to an out of county hospital and is said to be alive. His name has not yet been released.
The August Fire mostly still burning out of control in the Mendocino National Forest, Trinity and Humboldt Forests is over 902,000 acres. The fire is still only 45% contained. The Forest Service and CAL FIRE working together on the Complex which is three zones. There are National Guard troops and soldiers from Washington along with firefighters from out of state continuing to work on the fire. There are too many evacuation zones to list. Yesterday we had more orders and warnings in Mendocino County. The West Zone of the fire has burned more than 111,000 acres and 65% contained. It covers about 195 miles of fire line.
PM NEWS UPDATE
A fire burning in Shasta County has killed 3 people. The Zogg Fire is part of the state of emergency declared by the Governor. The fire’s burning southwest of Redding and has blackened over 40,300 acres, it’s 0% contained. There are evacuation orders in place. 146 structures have been destroyed. The Glass Fire hopped from Napa to Sonoma County yesterday and is burning 4 miles east of Calistoga. It’s burning in scars left by the 2017 Nuns and Tubbs fires, and in between on fresh fuel. It’s charred 42,560 acres and is also 0% contained. There are also evacuation orders in effect and more have begun for others who were warned they might need to leave. We continue to monitor the massive August fire which keeps chomping away at more and more acreage. From yesterday to today, we’ve recorded over 35 thousand acres of growth. The fire remains only 43% contained. The fire is broken up as such, the South Zone is getting close to 490,000 acres, it’s 70% contained; the North Zone has burned over 332,300 acres, it’s 49% contained; and the West Zone has burned nearly 117,000 acres and is 65% contained. One firefighter died early on in the fight. She was based out of Texas. The August Complex has destroyed 86 structures and threatens hundreds more.
Mendocino Transit Authority says it’s picking up its service again to Sonoma County, but it’ll be a reduced schedule. The CC Rider, Route #65, is going once a day, Monday through Saturday, from Mendocino and Fort Bragg to Santa Rosa. And Route #95 will also go once a day, but, Monday through Friday, from Point Arena to Santa Rosa. The service will start again on Monday, Oct. 12 with coronavirus safety protocols in place. You will need to wear a face mask and practice social distancing. All MTA vehicles are equipped with hand sanitizer and the company says it will be sanitizing and disinfecting buses every day. For more info, www.mendocinotransit.org or the Mendocino Transit Authority Facebook page for all service updates and changes.
Kelp restoration work continues in Noyo Bay. Last month several commercial red sea urchin divers started to remove kelp-eating purple urchins. Since the beginning of last month, they’ve cleared about six acres of reef, pulling out more than of 21,000 pounds of purple urchin. The nonprofit Reef Check California is leading the effort and says there’s new growth of Kelp in Noyo Bay. The project was supposed to start sooner, but the pandemic delayed it a bit. The project managers say there were great ocean conditions so it didn’t really affect the work much.
A deaf man accused of murdering a friend he was supposedly traveling with to Calif. to start a deaf camp will be finally going to trial. Court papers say Mavrick Fisher’s case goes to jury trial Oct. 21st. Fisher’s charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon (that is not a firearm with great bodily injury likely) and grand theft of a firearm related to the death of his friend Grant Whitaker of Mackinaw, IL. His body found on a remote Scotts Valley property. The trial was supposed to start tomorrow but that was delayed, after several other attempts. The trial should last three weeks.
Power was back on for thousands of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers who were part of the latest public safety power shutoffs due to red flag weather. The energy company says they turned off power to 65,000 customers in 15 counties including Lake, but not Mendocino County Sunday. There were still several hundred in the dark last night. Only 55 people lost their power in Lake County. 2 were medical baseline customers. It all started early Sunday morning, those in Lake were near the county line with Napa south of Middletown. But they had an all clear yesterday morning. The utility reported no damage to infrastructure or hazards to any electrical equipment in our region. Wind gusts of up to 73 miles an hour were recorded on the Mt. St. Helena West weather station in Sonoma County and 72 miles per hour at Jarbo Gap in Butte County.
