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- Written by: Lake County News reports
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Firefighters are at the scene of a structure fire in Hidden Valley Lake.
The fire was first reported in the 18000 block of North Shore Drive just before noon on Tuesday, according to radio and California Highway Patrol reports.
South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire were responding, with additional help called in from Northshore Fire, which was bringing in several units to assist.
Witnesses reported that sheriff’s deputies were on scene, with CHP reporting it also had officers on scene to assist with traffic control.
As firefighters were approaching the scene they were alerted that power lines were down, according to dispatch.
A Cal Fire helicopter was brought in to drop water on the fire, according to witnesses.
Reports indicated there was at least one severely burned patient, with the possibility of a second injury.
A REACH air ambulance also was called to the scene to transport a patient, reports indicated.
The helicopter lifted off at 12:45 p.m. with one patient. The REACH crew indicated they could not get into a Sacramento-area burn unit and were en route to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
A Cal Fire helicopter was brought in to drop water on the fire, according to witnesses.
Reports indicated there was at least one severely burned patient, with the possibility of a second injury.
Updates on the incident will be posted as they become available.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Northshore Fire Deputy Chief Pat Brown said the fire occurred on Flying Jib Court in Clearlake Oaks just after 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
He said the smoke detector activated due to smoke in the family room area. A fire had started on the rear wood deck area and spread to a exterior wall, and the home's occupants reported active flames from the window.
Brown said the home's residents used a fire extinguisher to knock down the fire and called 911.
Northshore Fire Protection District responded with two engines and a duty chief out of the Clearlake Oaks Station, Brown said.
Firefighters with the first arriving engine used their thermal imaging camera and found active fire in the exterior wall. Brown said the firefighters proceeded to use a chain saw and pry bars to open up the wall.
There was damage to the deck area and a section of the exterior wall, Brown said.
The fire is under investigation with the damage estimate around $6,000, according to Brown.
The operating smoke detector in the Flying Jib Court residence saved the family and reduced damage to their home, Brown said.
Brown said the incident is a good reminder of the importance of checking smoke detectors twice a year. The twice-annual time change due to daylight savings is a good time to check.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
“We had to dismiss it,” said District Attorney Don Anderson, who appeared in court to announce the dismissal of the case against Rowland Mosser.
“Rowland was delighted to finally have an end to his ordeal,” said Mosser’s attorney, Mitch Hauptman.
Mosser, 67, of Lucerne served as the senior center’s executive director from 2002 to 2005.
He had faced two felony counts of embezzlement and two felony grand theft counts for allegedly taking an unspecified amount of funds from the senior center between Jan. 1, 2005, and Aug. 12, 2005.
In October 2010, following the conclusion of a preliminary hearing that lasted two and a half days, Judge Andrew Blum had ordered Mosser to stand trial on the charges, as Lake County News has reported.
Hauptman said the District Attorney’s Office previously had offered Mosser a plea deal that would have reduced the case to a misdemeanor, but he said Mosser turned it down.
Anderson told Lake County News that he concluded that he could not move forward with the case because of the death of its lead investigator, Ron Larsen, who died in August.
“He was the only one who can authenticate the evidence, the documents we have, and testify to the chain of custody,” said Anderson.
Without Larsen’s testimony, the prosecution lacked the evidence it needed, Anderson said.
Anderson said he and the case’s prosecutor, Gary Luck, went over the case in detail and tried to find a way to rehabilitate it before concluding they couldn’t move forward.
“We have no choice in this case at all,” Anderson said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The California Department of Education reported that only 31 percent of students statewide posted healthy scores in all six areas of the latest Physical Fitness Test.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson called the test results “a public health challenge we can't wait to address.”
The 2011 Physical Fitness Test was administered to 1.34 million students representing 93 percent of pupils enrolled in fifth, seventh and ninth grades. In Lake County, approximately 1,935 students in all three grades were tested.
Students were tested in six fitness areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength and flexibility.
A score in the Healthy Fitness Zone, or HFZ – meaning that the student passed all six fitness standards – indicates the student's level of fitness is sufficient for good health.
For all six areas of the 2011 test results showed that 25.2 percent of fifth-grade students statewide were in the HFZ, compared to 29 percent in 2010; 32 percent of seventh grade students were in the HFZ, compared to 35 percent in 2010; and 36.8 percent of ninth-grade students were in the HFZ, compared to 38.7 percent in 2010.
In Lake County, students meeting all six fitness standards included 24.8 percent of fifth graders and 25.5 percent of seventh graders, with both groups falling under the state average.
However, Lake County’s ninth graders scored 37.6 percent, just over the state’s average score for that grade level.
The state said that to score in the HFZ the test requires that a 5-foot, 6-inch, 150-pound, 15-year-old ninth grade male run a mile within nine minutes, perform at least 16 push-ups and do at least 24 curl-ups.
The research showed that body composition is perhaps the most important indicator of who will develop future health problems.
“We have always had this silent epidemic of childhood obesity in the state,” California Department of Education spokesperson Tina Jung told Lake County News. “These are the very first indicators where we’re able to measure this.”
The state report showed that 52.1 percent of fifth graders, 55.5 percent of seventh graders and 59.4 percent of ninth graders statewide met the HFZ for body composition.
By comparison, 53 percent of Lake County’s fifth graders were in the HFZ for body composition, while 53.9 of seventh graders and 64.2 percent of ninth graders met that healthy standard.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook said he’s concerned about physical education having to compete for precious instructional minutes with areas like language and math, where state and federal officials have placed increased emphasis.
His perception is that physical education has lost some of those instructional minutes, and he suggested that the pendulum can’t swing too far one way toward some subjects without affecting other areas of education.
“That’s one of those real delicate balances,” he said.
Jung said all of the fitness testing boils down to an important truth for students: “If you’re healthier, you learn better.”
To address the fitness levels of the state’s children, Torlakson – who has has coached high school cross country athletes – launched the Team California for Healthy Kids effort.
The program’s three major goals are to increase physical activity, especially moderate to vigorous physical activity throughout every day in schools and communities; increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks in early childhood and after-school programs, and in salad bars in schools; and increase access to drinking water.
Torlakson’s office reported that athletes and others involved in the campaign will visit schools throughout the state to encourage local efforts to increase physical activity and increase access to water, fresh fruits and vegetables.
In Lake County, there already are successful efforts to increase students’ access to nutritious foods, said Holbrook.
As an example, he pointed to the Kelseyville Unified School District’s food program, led by Michelle Malm, which recently was profiled by CBS News.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at