How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As firefighters continued to raise the containment on the Cache fire, officials on Thursday began the work of turning from emergency response to the recovery process.
On Thursday, Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta said the fire had been mapped at 83 acres, with containment between 30 and 40 percent.
Sapeta and several other local officials offered an update on conditions during a news conference at Clearlake City Hall that lasted just over 15 minutes on Thursday evening.
While not as big as some of Lake County’s other destructive fires, Sheriff Brian Martin said the Cache fire nonetheless impacted the community “quickly and severely.”
Sapeta said fire crews continued working on the incident around the clock throughout Thursday, and they were expected to downgrade to 12-hour shifts on Saturday or Sunday. Nine engines are to be working in the fire area on Friday.
He said firefighters originally had been dispatched to an oven fire at another location when they saw the column of smoke and he requested Cal Fire and area strike teams to respond.
Because of how fast the fire was moving, Sapeta said there was a delayed initial attack on the fire, with resources instead focused on evacuating residents in the area. He has estimated that as many as 1,600 residents were evacuated at the peak of the incident.
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora said an initial damage assessment completed on Thursday identified 56 destroyed homes, 81 outbuildings and 158 vehicles.
Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White said they are not aware of any fatalities and have no formal missing person reports.
He said his officers and detectives have been working to contact all the residents of the homes destroyed in the fire area and have so far been able to clear 51 of them. Additional properties are yet to be searched.
Those displaced by the fire still have an evacuation shelter available to them. On Thursday, the shelter was moved from Kelseyville High School to Twin Pine Casino in Middletown. Theresa Showen of the Lake County Department of Social Services said between Wednesday and Thursday they had a total of 72 people registered.
Showen said they were working to meet immediate needs — a place to stay, food, medications — with the Red Cross to take over the sheltering effort and the county to have a support role.
Evacuation orders for parts of Clearlake and Lower Lake remained in effect on Thursday.
Sapeta said he looks forward to being able to lift those orders, but explained that making sure it’s safe for residents is a “very daunting and slow process.”
He said a significant amount of trees need to be cut back, while repairs need to be made to infrastructure. Thirty utility poles were destroyed and a tower was damaged, and Pacific Gas and Electric was brought in on Thursday to begin repairs.
Mayor Dirk Slooten thanked the many agencies that had helped the city and the numerous nonprofits that are also coming forward to offer assistance. “We can do this together. Remember this is Lake County strong.”
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, formerly a Clearlake City Council member, also expressed his thanks to firefighters. “While the fire was devastating and extreme, it was stopped from doing further destruction” by those first responders, he said.
Sabatier pledged that the county will work with state and federal partners to help the city. “The conversations have already begun.”
Fire district, city council approve emergency declarations
During a special Thursday morning meeting, the Lake County Fire Protection District Board approved an emergency declaration in response to the fire.
Board President Jacqueline Snyder said taking such an action is “a first” for the district in her time there.
With the fire in the local responsibility area, not the state’s, the district could be hit hard by the impacts, Snyder said.
“We’re all having to learn a different way of life at this point,” said Snyder.
That action was followed on Thursday evening by the Clearlake City Council unanimously ratifying the declaration of a local emergency that Flora had issued the previous night in his authority as the city’s emergency services director.
Councilman Russ Perdock noted that the county’s past fires have been bundled with other incidents in order to qualify for federal assistance. He asked if it’s possible with this fire.
Flora noted it’s a great question. “At this point, it’s not looking likely,” but he said the city and county supervisors are asking if that’s possible. The city has a call scheduled on Friday with Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and state Sen. Mike McGuire to discuss the matter.
Later in the meeting, Flora updated the council on the overall fire situation, explaining a variety of agencies are continuing to assist the city in the recovery efforts that will be ongoing for some time.
He said Lake County Environmental Health did an assessment in the fire area, finding no industrial scale waste but a lot of household hazardous waste. That’s along with the ash and heavy metals from monitor heaters, propane tanks, burned mobile homes and vehicles.
Another concern is the proximity to Cache Creek and the potential for contamination from the burned properties, which included what Flora called an “unofficial wrecking yard” filled with vehicles.
There also are issues with drinking water availability. He said the Cache Creek Mobile Home Park, one of the parks in the fire area, lost its water system to the fire.
On Thursday afternoon, Flora spoke with the general manager of the Konocti County Water District, which was in the process of taking that system over, and they are working on an emergency tie for that park to ensure a water source.
Flora said the city has asked for a hazmat team from the California Office of Emergency Services. The state has agreed to provide that team but the city doesn’t yet know when.
Due to high winds, a lot of ash is blowing into Cache Creek, with Flora explaining that the state hazmat teams have treatments to address that.
In the meantime, Clearlake Public Works is using a water truck to keep the area damp to stop ash from moving into the watershed. Even though there isn’t much water in Cache Creek, Flora said if pollutants get into the creek, they could travel into Yolo County.
He said that the city has done a lot of towing of abandoned vehicles over the last several months and so has zero capacity for storing more. That will necessitate an emergency contract to remove the vehicles from the fire area.
Flora said few of the property owners who had damage actually have property insurance. “That’s going to be a problem for the recovery efforts.”
At the same time, however, it does strengthen the city’s chance of getting state resources, he said.
Flora said there also has been an outpouring of offers of assistance and support, including from contractors the city works with on a regular basis.
He said he was very pleased with how the community is already stepping in, again, to offer support. “It’s a large disaster for us.”
While he doesn’t expect the city to meet the thresholds for state and federal assistance, Flora said they were going to work to get the needed resources.
Both Flora and White noted during the meeting that the fire caused significant infrastructure damage.
While the meeting was taking place, White received an update from PG&E on the repairs. He said it’s possible that Dam Road could be reopened on Sunday, but added, “There’s a lot of infrastructure repair to be done.”
Councilman Russ Cremer said he had toured the fire area with Sabatier and Martin. “It’s total devastation,” he said.
Slooten added that it reminded him of escaping the Sulphur fire with his wife in 2017.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
