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SPRING VALLEY – The county’s first “Islands of Humanity Emergency Preparedness Day,” held Aug. 25, was a success as Spring Valley residents turned out to be educated and entertained by county, state and national agencies.
The event, the first in the series for isolated communities around the lake, drew almost 100 families who actively participated in the process that focused on this community’s emergency issues.
Moderated by District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, a panel consisting of 10 agency representatives answered questions posed by the residents throughout a 90-minute meeting.
During and after the meeting, the residents took advantage of a rare opportunity to enjoy up close and personal contact with the equipment and personnel of the agencies present.
Children and adults alike enjoyed new experiences like sitting in a Cal Fire helicopter and taking a short but exciting fire engine ride.
Tours of the county’s Mobile Emergency Operations Center and Northshore Fire Protection District’s ambulance and engines allowed residents a close-up view of the services that exist to protect them.
Sponsored by the Lake County Office of Emergency Services (OES) and Supervisor Rushing, the supporting agencies included Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, Northshore Fire Protection, the county Department of Health Services, American Red Cross, Special Districts, the state Department of Fish and Game, Lake County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and Animal Care and Control.
Yolo County Flood Control also participated due to the close relationship between it and the residents of Spring Valley.
Focused on the local community and the hazards that may affect it, emergency preparedness events provide an opportunity for residents to hear answers provided by experts.
From the agencies' point of view, the events provide them with an opportunity to prepare residents for future emergencies and to make sure that the public has a clear path to preparedness. The agencies also made it clear they welcome the opportunity to attract volunteers to help serve the community.
In planning for November, the next emergency preparedness event will take place in the community of Hidden Valley Lake.
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- Written by: Monte Winters
The invasive quagga mussels and their cousin, the zebra mussel, also are on the radar of Lake County officials, who have sent lake samples to labs in Oregon and Colorado to test for the mussels' presence. So far, Clear Lake has tested negative for the mussels, but tests are ongoing, as Lake County News reported late last week.
Should quagga and zebra mussels make it into Clear Lake, they could travel through Cache Creek and into the Bay-Delta, which the state Department of Water Resources reports serves as a water source for 25 million Californians.
With recent quagga mussel finds along the Nevada-California border and then in Southern California, the state is particularly concerned about Riverside County’s Lake Skinner and San Diego County’s Lower Otay Reservoir, Lake Dixon, and San Vicente Reservoir, all of which permit recreational access.
"With quagga mussels on the move from the Nevada border to inland San Diego County, we need the public’s help to keep them from going farther," said Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman. "Once the quagga are established in a waterway, they have significant environmental, recreational and economic impacts."
Although they range from microscopic to the size of a fingernail, the mussels are prolific breeders and attach themselves to hard and soft surfaces, such as boats and aquatic plants.
Quagga mussels affect boaters negatively because they:
Ruin your engine by blocking the cooling system – causing overheating.
Increase drag on the bottom of your boat, reducing speed and wasting fuel.
Jam steering equipment on boats.
Require scraping and repainting of boat bottoms.
Colonize all underwater substrates such as boat ramps, docks, lines and other underwater surfaces requiring constant cleaning.
Quagga mussel infestation can potentially lead to the closure of boating in affected waterways. They also wreak havoc with the environment, disrupting the natural food chain and releasing toxins that affect other species. Spread of the quagga could result in millions of dollars in damage to water transport facilities.
Various watercraft are the primary transporters of quagga mussels. All boaters and anyone who accesses freshwater aquatic environments should take the following steps to inhibit the spread of the quagga mussel:
Inspect all exposed surfaces - small mussels feel like sandpaper to the touch.
Wash the hull of each watercraft thoroughly; preferably with high pressure/hot water.
Remove all plants and animal material.
Drain all water and dry all areas.
Drain and dry the lower outboard unit.
Clean and dry all live-wells.
Empty and dry any buckets.
Dispose of all bait in the trash.
Wait five days and keep watercraft dry between launches into different fresh waters.
It is important for boaters to follow these steps and cooperate with vessel inspections that are being conducted at a number of Department of Food and Agriculture border inspection stations and around the state.
These invasive freshwater mollusks were first detected in California in January, in Lake Havasu on the Colorado River.
In subsequent months, they were found in two Southern California water systems using Colorado River water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and the San Diego County Water Authority.
MWD documented the mussels in March and again in July in its 242-mile Colorado River aqueduct, and also at Lake Mathews near Riverside and at Lake Skinner in Winchester, east of Temecula. On Aug. 21, the mussels were discovered in San Diego County, at San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside.
Thus far, the mussels have not been found in California's State Water Project (SWP), which draws its water from Northern California watersheds. Environmental scientists are monitoring the system, one of the largest water and power systems in the United States. The main risk of mussel introduction in the SWP is from trailered boats.
A multi-agency taskforce that includes the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Boating and Waterways, the Department of Water Resources and California State Parks has launched an outreach campaign to alert boaters and the public to the quagga mussel threat.
This effort is also being coordinated with MWD and the San Diego County Water Authority.
For information on the Quagga mussel response, visit the DFG Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/quaggamussel/.
A public toll-free number, 1-866-440-9530, has been established for boaters and anyone involved with activities on lakes and rivers seeking information on the invasive and destructive quagga mussels. The toll-free number is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
A Mediacom representative said the Internet outage was reported just after 8 a.m. Saturday and affected about 800 customers.
The outage, according to Mediacom, was caused by two damaged nodes, which are pieces of equipment connecting fiberoptic cable to local cable networks. The company was suffering both hardware and software issues related to the issues with the nodes.
By 2 a.m. Sunday Internet service had not yet been restored. However, Mediacom said crews were working throughout the night until the problem was fixed.
By 7 a.m. services had been restored.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The complex is located about 20 air miles northeast of Covelo in the Yolla Bolly Middle-Eel Wilderness. Of the 10 fires that make up the complex, six are contained and firefighters continue to work on reaching containment on the others.
Another new fire was confirmed Friday morning within the complex, according to the report from Punky Moore, the forest spokesperson.
More accurate mapping by firefighters on the ground has reduced the The Yolla Bolly Complex to 85 acres with 30 percent containment.
The largest fire in the complex, Moore reported, is the Sugarloaf Fire near Sugarloaf Mountain in the south central part of the wilderness. It is about 45 acres and has 100 personnel assigned.
Moore reported that firefighting efforts include reinforcing existing line, building line around uncontained fires, suppressing smoldering debris and patrolling areas to ensure no fire is lingering that may flare up again. Helicopters will assist firefighters by dropping water on areas of fire that have potential to grow and are difficult to reach.
The first priority on the Yolla Bolly Complex, according to Moore, is providing firefighter and public safety.
As such, a temporary flight restriction is in place for a 10 mile radius around the fire area. Visitors to the forest need be aware of fire activity that may influence their vacation and hunting plans.
However, Moore noted that there are no closures in place for the complex. Many areas of the forest are not affected by fire suppression activities; however, it is recommended that visitors planning a trip to the forest call one of our offices for current information before venturing out.
More than 150 personnel and three helicopters are committed to the Yolla Bolly incident, Moore reported. Additional resources have been ordered.
Officials are keeping their eyes out for new fires resulting from lightning strikes several days ago, said Moore; she added it's isn't unusual to find such fires days later.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports