How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters are on the scene of two new fires in the Upper Lake area.
The Hunter Fire is burning near Upper Lake, as is a second fire in the North Federal Direct Protection Area, according to Cal Fire spokesperson Suzie Blankenship.
Cal Fire said the Hunter Fire was located off Bachelor Valley Road, northwest of Upper Lake.
First reported early Saturday between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m., the Hunter Fire was between five and seven acres by 10:30 a.m., and had reached 10 acres and 50-percent containment by noon, Blankenship said.
Blankenship said it was burning in heavy timber, with a slow to moderate rate of spread.
Resources on scene included 10 engines from Cal Fire, Northshore Fire and other local government agencies, Blankenship said.
Radio traffic also indicated a bulldozer had arrived at the fire.
The second fire was in the North Federal Direct Protection Area, where a Cal Fire helitack was working the fire, said Blankenship.
She said that fire was burning in heavy timber. It was three acres and holding at 10:30 a.m.
Blankenship said the Direct Protection Area is in the Mendocino National Forest, but Cal Fire has an agreement with the forest to protect that area.
Reports from the scene indicated Mendocino National Forest firefighting resources were on the way to the Direct Protection Area at about 10:40 a.m.
Mendocino National Forest spokesperson Tamara Schmidt said Saturday morning that the fires were not on the forest.
Lake County residents had reported seeing lightning strikes near Upper Lake late Friday night, but Blankenship could not say if the two fires were lightning caused.
Daniel Berlant, another Cal Fire spokesman with the agency’s headquarters, reported earlier Saturday morning that more than 900 lightning strikes had occurred across Northern California on Friday night, resulting in many new fires. As a result Cal Fire was on high alert.
Schmidt said there were lightning strikes on the Mendocino National Forest Friday night, and forest officials were planning a reconnaissance flight later Saturday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
