LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Community groups in the south county are in the early stages of planning to mark the 10th anniversary of the Valley Fire later this year.

The fire burned from Sept. 12 to Oct. 15, 2015. It began on Cobb due to faulty wiring in a residential hot tub, and within hours had burned down into Middletown.

The Valley Fire killed four people, destroyed 1,955 structures and burned 76,067 acres.

It’s listed as the eighth most destructive wildfire in California history.

During its meeting on Thursday night, the Middletown Area Town Hall, or MATH, hosted a brief discussion on the plans that are already developing to mark the anniversary.

Ken Gonzales, a former MATH Board member who now works for Harbin Hot Springs Resort Center — owned and operated by Heart Consciousness Church — as its health and safety coordinator, said the resort has its own plans and wants to work with other community groups as well.

“Harbin is going to invite all the residents back,” said Gonzales, explaining that there were 200 residents at the resort at the time of the fire.

“Ninety-five percent are gone,” he said, noting they have left the state.

Dan Tyrrell, president of the Middletown Area Merchants Association, or MAMA, said the group’s board vice president, Chanel Hellwege, is spearheading their anniversary plans.

He said MAMA wants to collaborate with other groups like MATH, the Middletown Arts Center, the Gibson Museum and South Lake County Fire Protection District.

“I think it’s going to be more of a resilience theme” as opposed to commemoration of the fire, which Tyrrell said is important for those who lived through it.

Mike Wink of Cal Fire said the agency wants to listen to anything the community has to say about the fire and the anniversary. Cal Fire and the fire district also want to support what the community wants to do for the anniversary event.

“Resiliency seems like a great theme because there is a lot of resiliency happening,” he said.

Hidden Valley Lake resident David Stoneberg said he hoped the 10th anniversary would include remembrances of the four people who died during the fire, including Leonard Neft.

Much more is to be determined and will be back for discussion, said MATH Chair Monica Rosenthal.

“We’ll talk about this more in future meetings,” Rosenthal said.

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