As Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office detectives continue to look into the Masonite Fire that started Tuesday off Highway 101 and Masonite Road in Ukiah, they are asking for your help. The Sheriff’s Office is working with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority to investigate the cause and while they have not gone so far as to call it arson, they are looking for any pictures or videos in the area of 101 and Masonite from before firefighters got there. If you have any pics or video you are asked to upload it using a link you can find on the Mendocino Sheriff Facebook Page.
There’s a new chaplain at the Mendocino County Jail. Davina Sentak has more than 20 years of experience in chaplaincy within the County, having worked with CalFire, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. She retired from Cal Fire in 2017 where she’d coordinated employee support services and helped during major incidents across the state. A resident of Mendocino County for four decades, she and her husband live in Willits and are active members of the River Church in Ukiah.
A young artist from Ukiah is having his second showing at the Corner Gallery for the next couple of months. William Shi was featured on the gallery’s Young Artist Wall in 2023 but now after a summer at the Rhode Island School of Design he is back again and experimenting with painting in a much different style. William tells the Ukiah Daily Journal he is honored to get the opportunity to show his work again in Ukiah. You can meet him at the First Friday opening this evening. He also has some paintings up at the Ukiah Library and will be there this afternoon before First Friday.
One person has been confirmed dead following a crash on Highway 101 in Laytonville Wednesday night. The CHP says around 830pm Wednesday the driver of a pickup truck was heading southbound on 101 near Shamrock Ranch when they lost control in a curve and ran off the road and slammed into a parked travel trailer. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Their name has not been released. The CHP says there was no one in the travel trailer at the time and no one else was hurt.
More than 900 pot plants have been confiscated after the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office undercovered an illegal grow near Laytonville. Mendo Fever reports on Wednesday deputies and California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens served a warrant at the 1200 block of Deer Trail Drive following an investigation after they got a complaint about water being diverted. Three men were arrested as deputies found 909 total growing marijuana plants in two different outdoor grows and eight hoop houses, plus 143 pounds of untrimmed bud marijuana. They also found an unregistered gun. Meanwhile Fish & Wildlife says there were six violations including water diversion and water pollution.
Our Heat Advisory remains in effect until 8pm tonight. The National Weather Service says high temperatures could get up to around 100 in Lake County and up to 105 in the Mendocino Interior. It backs off a little for the weekend with temps in the mid-90’s, but we’ll stay there a while with temps in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s for the next two weeks.
