The latest from Cal Fire shows NO active fires in Lake or Mendocino Counties, with the weekend’s Adams Fire in Lakeport now fully contained. The danger remains at our doorstep though with several large fires still raging. To the South, The Toll FIre near Calistoga is 75 percent contained at 40 Acres. To the east, the Thompson Fire near Oroville is 98 percent contained, with 3,700 acres burned. A new fire –the Royal Fire this morning threatens an area near Lake Tahoe and has led to evacuations. A left-behind campfire may have started it. North near the Oregon border, the Shelly Fire is also zero percent contained in part of the Siskiyou National Forest.
Investigations say the eleven-acre Pocket Fire near Geyserville over the weekend was started by the man using a riding lawn mower to cut four-foot-tall cured annual grasses. He has been charged. Law enforcement says they will go after anyone whose actions pose a danger of setting off more fires.
The heat stays high throughout the week. Forecasters don’t predict any significant cooling through Friday, so until then the highs will be near or go over 100 degrees in many interior locations.
The unemployment rate in Lake County was down in May. It was a big dip too..from 6 percent in April to 4.9 percent in May. The California Employment Development Department says the county added 210 new jobs to bring down the unemployment figure. One factor..seasonal farm employment, which went up 19.2 percent month over month, but manufacturing and federal government jobs went up as well. Overall, California continued its strong job growth rate, adding 43,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in May, bringing the statewide unemployment rate to 5.2 percent. The state has seen 49 months in a row of increasing job numbers.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors will be talking pavement at their meeting this week. Among the agenda items tomorrow, they’ll go over pavement improvements in the Cobb Area. That work wasn’t in the most recent pavement schedule outlined back in 2022. Several other items are on the full agenda, which you can check out at the county website. The meeting starts at 9 am in the county courthouse.
