That red flag warning signaling a high risk for fire danger continues today until 5pm. The warning reminds us that we’re experiencing some very poor air quality conditions and is in effect for the North Bay interior mountains, including the Sonoma and Napa counties. Humidity will be dropping very low as well and that, of course, increases fire danger.
A Fort Bragg man was arrested earlier this week after allegedly beating a 72-year-old man and locking him in a shipping container. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office says 42-year-old James Padgett was arrested after officers found the man whom Padgett had allegedly beaten in the container at his home. He was described as having traumatic injuries all over his body. He said Padgett had used a lever-action rifle to beat him with before dragging him into the shipping container and locking him in. Padgett has been charged with suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment, elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and intimidating a witness. He is now locked in another type of container, a jail cell, in Mendocino County.
Pacific Gas and Electric says that today we are still under a watch for a PSPS. That’s a Public Safety Power Shutoff. Predictive Services Northern Operations, a federal forecasting agency, is forecasting High Fire Potential risk today for northerly wind gusts up to 40 mph. Conditions may change according to utility officials. PG&E’s in-house meteorologists, as well as its Emergency Operations Center and its Hazard Awareness & Warning Center (HAWC), continue to closely monitor conditions. If you are a PG&E customer, you can look up your address online to find out if your location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
The homeless shelter in Lake County remains in operation for homeless residents and those needing accommodation during harsh weather. This, is in spite of the fact that there are very few staff. Elsie Jones, Lake County Behavioral Health director, says that Sunrise Special Services is helping carry out operations at the shelter in the old juvenile hall until an agreement can be come up with. As of now, four proposals have been received and the negotiations are continuing. One of those is from the nonprofit Redwood Community Services. Redwood is based in Mendocino County but also serves Lake and Humboldt Counties as well.
A significant amount of money has been received to improve access to food during disasters. The University of California Cooperative Extension advisors have recently received $1.5 million from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Regional Food Systems Partnership Program as well as matching contributions from local government, nonprofits and foundations. They plan to create a California North Coast Emergency Food System Partnership across six counties over the next three years. Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties will all benefit and be able to strengthen local and regional food systems and build community resilience. In recent years, Mendocino County and the Northern Coast have experienced catastrophic wildfires, floods, landslides, drought, earthquakes, and the pandemic, all of which have put increasing pressure on local producers, the local/regional food system, and emergency food aid. These new monies will help in a significant way.
