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Mansur Balaei, 30, died after colliding with a guard rail three miles west of Lakeport, the CHP said Sunday.
The CHP said Balaei, who has ridden motorcycles for 16 years, was traveling with a group when the crash occurred at 1:22 p.m.
He was riding 50 miles per hour in a sharp curve when he lost control of the bike and went off the roadway, hitting a guard rail head-on, according to the CHP report.
Officials said a Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital emergency room nurse was the first on scene, and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Balaei for 20 minutes.
REACH helicopter was summoned but medical personnel at the scene decided Balaei wasn't stable enough to travel by air, said Lakeport Fire Protection District Captain Bob Ray. Instead, Balaei was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by ground ambulance.
CHP said Balaei succumbed to blunt force trauma injuries. He had been wearing safety gear – helmet, leathers and boots, Ray added.
Balaei leaves behind a 28-year-old widow and a 5-month-old daughter, the CHP reported.
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The complex of four fires – three of which are contained – is located in the vicinity of Lake Pillsbury on the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District. The fires were ignited by a dry lightning storm June 21.
US Forest Service spokesman Marc Peebles reported Sunday that the last of the fires still burning, the Mill Fire, has reached 2,972 acres and is 60-percent contained, with full containment – originally estimated to take place on Wednesday – pushed back to July 26.
The entire complex has burned 8,581 acres and is 79-percent contained overall, the same as the previous day, Peebles reported.
Nearly 30 more firefighting personnel have been assigned to the fire since Saturday, bringing the total, according to Peebles, to 793. There also are 23 crews, 26 engines, three dozers, 11 water tenders and 14 helicopters working the fire.
Peebles said the fire continued to spread through spot fires into steep and rugged terrain in a southeast direction, where firefighters and aircraft continue to work to hold the fire. Crews also continue to patrol the areas of the already-contained Monkey Rock, Big and Back fires.
Seven residences in Lake and Mendocino counties remain under evacuation at this time between Deadmans Flat and Sunset Gap to the east flank of the fire, he said.
Also still burning is the Vinegar fire, which has burned 10,410 acres on the the Mendocino National Forest and another 16,975 in the Shasta Trinity National Forest, for a total of 27,485 acres burned, according to forest officials.
For more information about the forest fires visit Forest Service Web site at www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino or www.inciweb.org. For information about other fires around the state, visit www.cdf.ca.gov.
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LAKEPORT – With a scorching summer visiting the county this year, a number of new programs at Lakeport's Westshore Pool offer adults and children alike a chance to stay cool and exercise.
This is the second summer the Westshore Pool has been open since it was renovated in the spring of 2007. The season opened June 16.
Because it had been some time since the pool had been open, the city of Lakeport's Public Works Department – which oversees the pool – set about setting up new programs for the public, said department secretary Tina Banuet.
Banuet said the pool is open for public swims Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. The cost is $3 for children ages 2 to 17, $4 for 18 years and older, and $2 for seniors. Season passes also are available, costing $175 for ages 2 through 17, $250 for adults 18 and over, and $100 for seniors.
Family passes, which cost $15, admit two adults and three children for a day, with some flexibility offered if there is one less adult and an additional child, she said.
Children age 9 years and younger must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older, without exception. Anyone entering the pool, even adult spectators, must pay the entrance fee.
Those fees help offset part of the city's cost of operating the pool, which Banuet said ran approximately $50,000 – excluding capital improvements – in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
After the first experience of running the pool last summer, Banuet said department staff and Public Works Director Doug Grider set about expanding the pool's offerings for this season.
She said they researched what other counties offered at their pools. “That's how we came up with everything this year,” she said.
New this year is an adult swim, held Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., said Banuet. The cost is $2 per day. The adult swims end Aug. 21.
The pool also now offers swimming lessons for children at all skill levels – beginners, advanced beginner and intermediate – this season, said Banuet.
Two swimming lesson sessions remain open for this year, running from July 28 through Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 through Aug. 21, Banuet said. The cost is $60 per child.
Among the other new offerings this year are pool parties, which groups can book on Friday nights and on Sundays, said Banuet.
Banuet called attendance at the pool this year “awesome,” with daily attendance averaging between 50 and 100 people, up from last year. A day care also visits the pool five days a week, bringing between 40 and 60 children, besides camps and other organizations using the pool this summer.
The pool, which is staffed by five lifeguards, will close for the season Saturday, Aug. 30, Banuet said.
Keeping the pool open year round is a goal, said Banuet. “We would like to – we just haven't gotten that far yet.”
For more information call the Lakeport Public Works Department, 263-3077.
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The male subject, whose name was not released Saturday, crashed into a guard rail on Highway 175 at about 12:25 p.m. three miles west of Lakeport, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The crash victim was said to be unconscious at the scene, with labored breathing, the CHP reported.
REACH air ambulance was called to transport the man to the hospital.
Shortly before 2:30 p.m. the man was reported to have died, according to the CHP.
CHP's Ukiah Dispatch Center would not release further information on the crash Saturday evening.
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