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LUCERNE, Calif. — Work continued Saturday evening to fully contain a wildfire that destroyed structures, led to evacuation orders and resulted in a power outage that impacted thousands of Lucerne residents.
The Arden fire began at 2:09 p.m. Saturday at Arden and Foothill drives off of Highway 20, on the west end of Lucerne.
By evening, after a fierce fire fight, multiple spot fires, power outages and evacuations, the fire was being held to 26 acres, with 40% containment, Cal Fire reported.
The fire quickly moved uphill on Saturday afternoon — prompting a closure of Highway 20 — and threatened multiple structures, which led to evaluation orders that were lifted shortly after 4 p.m.
Cal Fire said the fire ultimately destroyed two structures.
The power went off across Lucerne just after 3:30 p.m. and was off for about three and a half hours. The organization Find Energy said the outage impacted 3,941 meters at its height. By 11 p.m., 38 meters were still without power.
While the power was off in the late afternoon and early evening, the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center opened as a cooling center to give people respite during the hot temperatures.
At about 6:15 p.m., three spot fires were reported at the head of the fire, farther up in the hills above the town, to the west of the fire and under high tension power lines. That required air resources to return to the scene after they had been released following the initial fire fight.
An incident overview by Cal Fire said the fire burned as far as Sherwood Road, one of the many gravel fire roads in the paper subdivisions above town.
The fire roads in the hills were reported to be helping to contain the advance of the fire, along with the multiple retardant and water drops done throughout the afternoon by Cal Fire air resources.
The hillside above Highway 20 was still smoking at around 7 p.m., with Pacific Gas and Electric personnel working to cut up smoking trees and address burning power poles.
Into the evening, traffic control remained in place at Highway 20 and Foothill Drive as firefighters, PG&E, California Water Service and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies continued to work in the area.
Cal Fire said in a report issued shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday that forward progress of the fire has been stopped.
Also stopped — and fully contained — were the three spot fires that had been reported shortly after 6 p.m. at the head of the fire.
Resources that were assigned to the incident on Saturday included 200 personnel, 14 engines, four dozers, four water tenders and three crews coming from agencies including Cal Fire units from Lake and Mendocino counties, the Mendocino National Forest, Northshore Fire, South Lake County Fire, Lakeport Fire and Williams Fire, with air resources such as tankers and air attack coming from Chico and Ukiah, and two helicopters from Boggs Mountain and Howard Forest.
The Arden is the latest in a series of fires that have burned in Lake County this month.
Those include the North fire, which burned 11 acres on Friday near Sulphur Bank and North Drive in Clearlake. It was 80% contained as of Saturday night, Cal Fire said.
The largest of the season so far in Lake County is the Lake fire, which burned 401 acres near Borax Lake last Sunday afternoon. Cal Fire said it was fully contained on Saturday morning.
The Lake fire also is the largest wildfire in the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit in 2025. Up until the Lake Fire, the unit said it had only seen 240 wildfires burn a total of 518 acres.
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