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CLEARLAKE – Firefighters remained on the scene of a small wildland fire in Clearlake throughout Monday night and were expected to be on scene Tuesday to continue mopping up.
The fire, dispatched at around 6:30 p.m., was located in brush with grassy oak woodland on two flanks and a moderate rate of spread, according to reports from the scene. Initially there were concerns that the fire had the potential to double in size.
Lake County Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Willie Sapeta said the fire's final size ranged between four and seven acres.
Full containment was reached around 8 p.m., about an hour and a half after the fire was dispatched, he said.
“We haven't totally walked the fire but there's line all around it,” he said in an interview around 9:30 p.m.
Sapeta said Lake County Fire and Cal Fire had joint command of the fire, which initially had been dispatched as being located at 12th Avenue and Boyles.
When they arrived at the scene firefighters discovered it was on Wilkinson Avenue, where incident command eventually was located, he said.
No structures were lost, Sapeta said.
He credited Cal Fire aircraft with being “phenomenal” in their response.
“We had two tankers here within minutes,” he said.
Sapeta said there were 12 to 13 engines, four aircraft, two helicopters and five crews between his district and Cal Fire.
He said Cal Fire is handling the investigation, noting the fire is “suspicious in nature.”
“We're going to be here all night,” Sapeta said, explaining that firefighters also would be on scene Tuesday to continue mopping up the area, which was marked by heavy brush and chemise.
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Cal Fire personnel began responding to the vegetation fire on North Cow Mountain at around 4 p.m. Sunday, according to a report from Cal Fire spokesperson Julie Cooley.
Cooley said the main fire spread had beens stopped as of 11 a.m. Monday, with crews continuing to work to contain a five-acre spot fire.
By the end of the day, the fire had burned 293 acres and was 45-percent contained, Cal Fire said. What caused the fire still is under investigation.
The firefighting effort was made more difficult and slow by the steep terrain and heavy brush on North Cow Mountain, Cooley said. On Sunday evening several air tankers and air attacks worked the fire because of the remote terrain.
On Monday Cooley said resources committed to the fire from Cal Fire, the Bureau of Land Management, and Ukiah Valley, Potter Valley, Redwood Valley and Hopland fire departments included 370 personnel, 10 engines, 16 fire crews, 6 dozers, two air tankers and three helicopters.
No injuries to firefighters or civilians have been reported, Cooley said.
Full containment of the fire is expected by 6 p.m. Tuesday, with full control by 8 a.m. Friday, according to Cooley's report.
Cal Fire is asking that anyone with information regarding the fire's cause call 707-459-7414.
Elsewhere around the state, Cal Fire continued to respond to wildland blazes, some of which were sparked late last month by lightning, as Lake County News has reported.
The West Fire in Kern County, southeast of Tehachapi, was fully contained after burning 1,658 acres, Cal Fire reported. Also fully contained was the Scissors Fire in San Diego County, which burned 110 acres, and the McDonald Fire, which burned 9,408 acres in the BLM's Northern California District in Lassen County.
Still burning in federal and local jurisdictions around the state were the Dutch Fire in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County, which was 20 percent contained after burning 522 acres; Los Angele's County's Crown Fire, at 13,918 acres and 97-percent containment; the Bar Fire in Plumas County, 900 acres, 30-percent containment, with full containment expected Thursday; and the Bull Fire in the Sequoia National Forest in Kern County, 16,442 acres, 95-percent containment, full containment anticipated on Aug. 10.
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Mary Smothers, 57, of Willits and an unnamed passenger who were riding in a 1997 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck were transported to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake following the crash, which occurred at about 3:40 p.m. Sunday, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Joe Wind.
The crash occurred on Highway 20 west of Island Drive, Wind said.
Robert Myers Jr., 50, of Lakeport, was traveling eastbound in a 1990 Chevy Prizm when Wind said Myers allowed his vehicle to cross over the double yellow lines in a corner.
Myers' car hit Smothers' pickup head-on, with the vehicles coming to rest and blocking the roadway, Wind said.
The CHP and Northshore Fire Protection District personnel responded to the scene, where Wind said the roadway was closed because first responders had to wait for tow trucks to move the vehicles.
Northshore Fire transported Smothers and her passenger to the hospital, where Wind said they were treated for minor injuries.
Both drivers were licensed, everyone was wearing their seat belt, and drugs and alcohol were not involved, according to Wind.
CHP Officer Josh Dye is investigating the crash, Wind said.
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MODESTO, Calif. – A Stockton man has pleaded guilty to the 2006 murder of a California Highway Patrol officer.
Columbus Allen, 34, entered the guilty plea to the shooting death of CHP Officer Earl Scott on Monday, according to Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager.
Fladager said Allen pleaded guilty to murder with use of a gun and admitted the special circumstances of murder of a peace officer in the performance of his duties, and murder to avoid arrest.
Allen also admitted that the murder was intentional and perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a vehicle at another person outside the vehicle with intent to inflict death, and he additionally pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and admitted having served a prior prison term, according to Fladager.
On Feb. 17, 2006, Scott pulled Allen over for a traffic violation on Highway 99 just outside of Modesto. It was during the traffic stop that Allen fatally shot Scott.
CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow remembered Scott as an exceptional officer and a consummate professional who worked tirelessly to make the highways of California safer. He thanked the law enforcement agencies who brought the case together.
Farrow said justice finally had been served.
“While a guilty plea can never erase the pain, sorrow and devastating loss felt by Earl’s family and friends, including his CHP family, may the finality of a plea and a life sentence in this case at least bring some measure of relief that this part of the process is over,” Farrow said.
The case had faced four years of delays but it had been scheduled to begin last week in Sacramento County where it had been moved as a result of a change of venue, Fladager reported.
The Fifth District Court of Appeals imposed a stay in the proceedings on July 26 in order to consider a writ filed by the defense to challenge the Sacramento judge who was assigned the trial. Fladager said if Allen had been convicted of the charges, a penalty phase would have followed the trial during which the jury would have been asked whether to recommend imposition of the death penalty.
Allen’s lawyers approached Fladager's office early last week indicating that Allen would be willing to plead guilty to all charges – and waive the right to appeal – for a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in lieu of prosecutors continuing to seek the death penalty.
After consulting with family members and friends of Scott and learning of their support for the resolution, Fladager's office agreed to accept the plea offer by the defense.
“While there may never be such a thing as ‘closure’ for the friends and family of Officer Scott, there will at least be finality to the criminal case,” Fladager said. “There will be no decades-long appeal process for them to endure and constantly worry about the possibility of reversal.”
After the defendant entered a guilty plea, Scott's family and friends had the opportunity to give victim impact statements. Among those addressing the court were Officer Robert Hart of the Modesto Police Department and CHP Officer Brandon Moore.
Judge Scott Steffen sentenced Columbus Allen to life in prison without the possibility of parole in addition to three years for the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and having served a prior prison term, Fladager reported.
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