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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A wildland fire complex in Colusa County continued to grow aggressively on Wednesday morning.
The 16 Complex, located in the Rumsey Canyon area off of Highway 16 south of Highway 20, reached 3,200 acres by the end of the morning, with 10 percent containment, according to Cal Fire.
The two fires, burning four miles apart, started Tuesday afternoon.
A portion of Highway 16 from the junction of Highway 20 to Manzanita Avenue seven miles east of the Colusa/Yolo County line remains closed, with the nearby Cortina Rancheria still under an evacuation warning, according to Cal Fire.
Assigned resources include 627 fire personnel, 150 engines, 28 fire crews, two helicopters, 16 bulldozers and three water tenders, Cal Fire reported.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Two wildland fires burning in Colusa County since Tuesday afternoon grew by several hundred acres overnight, causing an evacuation order to be issued for a nearby rancheria.
The “16 Complex” was sparked just before 4 p.m. Tuesday off of Highway 16, south of Highway 20, in the Rumsey Canyon area.
By Wednesday morning the fires had scorched 1,950 acres, with Cal Fire estimating containment at 10 percent.
Smoke from the fires was visible throughout Lake County on Wednesday morning.
The cause of the fires is under investigation, Cal Fire said.
On Tuesday night fire officials issued an evacuation warning for the Cortina Rancheria area, which remained in effect early Wednesday.
Due to the fire, officials had ordered Highway 16 closed from the junction with Highway 20 to 7.1 miles east of the Colusa/Yolo County line at Manzanita Avenue.
Cal Fire had approximately 600 of its firefighting personnel on scene Wednesday, along with 27 personnel from other agencies, and 150 engines, 28 fire crews, two helicopters, 16 bulldozers and three water tenders.
Along with Cal Fire, agencies involved in the response to the fire include fire and law enforcement agencies from Colusa and Yolo counties, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Caltrans.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The number of reported hate crimes in California decreased 4 percent in 2011, with reports of such crimes in Lake County also down, according to a report from California’s attorney general.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris said there were 1,060 hate crime events reported statewide in 2011, a decrease from the 1,107 hate crime events reported in 2010.
“There is no place in our inclusive Golden State for hate crimes and their destruction of what makes California so special,” Harris said. “I welcome the decrease in these senseless crimes and commend state and local law enforcement for their efforts to protect every Californian.”
The report showed that in Lake County there were three hate crime “events” in 2011 with three victims and four resulting offenses. That’s down from six events, nine offenses and nine victims in 2010.
There were no suspects in any of the cases 2011 cases, according to the report.
Two of those cases were reported in the Lake County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction and one in the city of Clearlake. None were reported in Lakeport.
In addition, the report showed two hate crime cases were filed by the Lake County District Attorney’s Office in 2011. No convictions were reported in the 2011 timeframe.
Hate crimes with race/ethnicity/national origin account for the most common type of hate crime in the last 10 years and represented 57.5 percent of all hate crime events in 2011.
Anti-black hate crimes account for 29.5 percent of all hate crimes. Since 2002, anti-Hispanic hate crimes have decreased by 43.6 percent.
Hate crimes events involving a religious bias have increased slightly, from 198 in 2010 to 201 in 2011.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes continue to be most common, accounting for 8 percent of all hate crimes reported since 2002. Of the 201 hate crimes involving a religious bias in 2011, 132 were anti-Jewish.
All police agencies and district attorney’s offices in California, in cooperation with the Department of Justice, have developed local data collection programs and submitted hate crime statistics for this report. Categories are established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A total of 313 hate crime cases were referred to prosecutors in 2011, and 253 cases were filed for prosecution. Of the 253 filed, 204 were filed as hate crimes. Of the 161 cases with a disposition available for this report, 46 percent (74) were hate crime convictions, 50 percent (80) were other convictions and 4 percent (7) were not convicted.
The hate crime reporting system was implemented by the Department of Justice in 1994. Law enforcement agencies are required to submit copies of initial crime reports to the department, and each agency has established procedures incorporating a two-tier review process.
The first level is done by the initial officer who responded to the suspected hate crime incident. Then each report is reviewed by at least one other officer to confirm that the event was, in fact, a hate crime.
The California Attorney General’s Office published its first hate crimes report in 1995. All previous reports can be found at: http://oag.ca.gov/cjsc/pubs#hate .
California Hate Crime Report 2011- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTH COAST, Calif. – As two wildland fires in northern Mendocino County grew closer to full containment, officials released more firefighters and equipment on Tuesday.
The North Pass Fires’ estimated size was rolled back by approximately 251 acres to 41,983 acres total, with 65 percent containment, Cal Fire and the US Forest Service reported Tuesday evening.
The fires, caused by lightning, are burning in the Williams Valley, 10 miles northeast of Covelo.
The US Forest Service and Cal Fire, which share unified command of the incident because it’s burning on both state and federal lands, said crews continued to hold and improve fire line on Tuesday, with the fires holding at the Middle Fork of the Eel River.
Officials said the incident continues to progress west towards Castle Peak with single and small group torching, while the northern portion of the fire continues to burn between Pothole Creek and Stick Lake Canyon.
There were 1,283 personnel assigned to the fires on Tuesday. Equipment assigned included 45 engines, 29 fire crews, two airtankers, 14 helicopters, 10 bulldozers and 28 water tenders.
Approximately 29 structures remain threatened, with evacuations still in effect for areas of Indian Dick Road (Forest Road M-1) and Mendocino Pass Road (Forest Highway 7).
The Covelo Ranger District north of Mendocino Pass Road to the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forest boundaries remains under a US Forest Closure order.
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