LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday discussed large wildland fires that impacted the county last year and the lessons learned from those incidents.
Cal Fire Division Chief Jim Wright gave a report on the fires to the Board of Supervisors during the Tuesday morning session.
Regarding the Wye Fire – which was sparked on Aug. 12, 2012, and contained six days later – Wright said it was “most likely vehicle related, we don't have an actual cause,” noting it started on the roadside.
Investigators don't have a responsible party, he said.
Wright did not have information on the cause of the Walker Fire, which also began along Highway 20 about 15 minutes after the Wye Fire started.
Lake County News followed up with fire officials after the meeting to find out if a cause had been released, but had not received an answer by the end of the day Tuesday.
Both fires, which were handled as a single incident burned approximately 7,934 acres.
Less than a month later, the Scotts Fire in the Cow Mountain area near Lakeport began on Friday, Sept. 7, burning 4,918 acres in a week.
“The Scotts Fire we know came from a campfire,” but there also is no responsible party identified, Wright said.
Supervisor Rob Brown pointed out that this year “we kinda lucked out” with no severe runoff from the fire areas affecting Clear Lake.
After a fire, firefighters work to rehabilitate ground scarred by dozers, putting in water bars to help minimize erosion, Wright explained.
However, they don't deal with scorched earth. Wright pointed out that ground burned on Mt. Konocti in January was left alone and already was coming back. “There's nothing that really needs to be done with that.”
No upcoming control burns are planned on Mt. Konocti, Wright said, adding that the January fire created a good fuel break.
Cal Fire is bringing on a coordinator to help work on control burns plans. He explained that Cal Fire isn't a landowner and therefore doesn't initiate control burns.
Brown pointed out that the county now owns a lot of land on Mt. Konocti – it owns a 1,520-acre county park on the mountain – and he suggested the county can work with the Bureau of Land Management and private property owners to organize control burns.
“Years ago we burned most of that mountain,” Wright said.
“It's going to burn one way or the other,” said Brown, with Wright pointing out that it can burn year round.
Supervisor Jim Comstock asked how property owners can put together a control burn. Wright said they can contact him, or battalion chiefs Mike Wink or Greg Bertelli to begin work on a plan.
Fall is the best time of year to work on control burns, Wright said. The trick is getting the right window of opportunity.
He said they have to get a day where the fire will carry but not too far, and they also don't want to do them on holidays.
“Finding those windows of burning are really, really tough for us,” Wright said, adding that some years they don't burn and other years they can get a lot of control burns done.
North Lakeport resident John Daniels was concerned about local government capability. Addressing Wright, he said, “I'm a taxpayer and my main concern is what is your professional opinion on how well the county government is prepared to handle a major fire in a residential area.”
Wright replied that the Wye and Walker fires were good examples of how they could work together. “The county was there to support us all the way.”
Daniels asked if the Lake County Office of Emergency Services had been involved and if it was professional. “Absolutely,” said Wright.
“There were some glitches and I think we learned from them,” said Brown, explaining that since then the county has placed the running of OES in the County Administrative Office.
The Scotts Fire response, he said, was a good indicator that they learned from the Wye and Walker fires. If a fire like the Wye were to happen this year, it would a better response, he said.
Willie Sapeta, the county's longtime OES coordinator and chief of the Lake County Fire Protection District, said that since the Wye and Walker fires they have had major incidents including the 29 Fire, Scotts Fire and the fire that in February destroyed the Wisedas Resort in Clearlake.
In September, there was a large fire in the area of San Joaquin Avenue in Clearlake Park that burned close to 40 acres. Sapeta said that within the first 10 minutes they evacuated 23 homes, and had a response that included 25 engines and multiple aircraft.
He said the local, state and federal agencies worked well together. “We didn't lose one home, we didn't lose one outbuilding,” nor were there injuries, he said.
Red Cross and Lake County Social Services were quickly mobilized to assist with evacuations, he said.
Sapeta said they had learned a lot from the Wye and Walker fires.
“It's really instrumental how we pull together,” he said, adding that, “Everything happens within minutes.”
Wright said Northshore Fire has installed a new repeater on Mt. Konocti for fire traffic, and Spring Valley homeowners are collaborating with Verizon wireless to get cell coverage in Spring Valley, where phone service had been knocked out during the Wye and Walker fires.
He said a county strategic plan also has identified Walker Ridge as an area for other repeater to improve county communications.
Conrad Colbrandt, who lives near where the San Joaquin fire occurred, said it was incredible how quickly the fire agencies all mobilized.
Watching the air resources working, “It was like watching a symphony,” he said.
Wright said the five county fire districts and Cal Fire work on incidents like one big department, adding the cooperation is “fantastic.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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