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- Written by: Lake County News reports
On Monday, Matthew Samuel Miravalle, 36, was convicted of committing felony arson and Judge J. David Markham sentenced Miravalle to six years in state prison, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Miravalle was arrested on Sept. 26, 2019, three days after setting a fire in Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News first reported last year.
According to investigation reports by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Cal Fire, sheriff’s Investigator Todd Dunia met with Cal Fire Arson Investigator Joe Baldwin concerning a fire that occurred on Sept. 23, 2019, on Highway 20 at the bus stop near Lake Street in Clearlake Oaks.
On the day of the fire, Lake County was under red flag conditions due to fire danger. Hinchcliff said the fire burned a small strip of vegetation and part of a wood fence next to the Eskaton Senior Apartment building.
As a result of the investigation by Dunia and Baldwin, and information provided by firefighter Randy Newell of the Northshore Fire District, it was determined that Miravalle intentionally started the fire, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff said investigators found two witnesses who provided information about the start of the fire and found video at the apartment complex showing Miravalle at the scene of the fire when it started.
On Sept. 26, 2019, Miravalle was taken into custody and interviewed by Dunia. Hinchcliff said Miravalle initially denied starting the fire and claimed to be in Ukiah when the fire started.
After Dunia confronted Miravalle with the witness statements and video, Miravalle admitted starting the fire. Hinchcliff said Miravalle claimed he started fires when he was mad at someone and someone had recently made him angry. He also stated he was aware that senior citizens resided in the adjacent apartment building, and claimed that his grandmother also lived there.
Hinchcliff said Miravalle had previously been convicted of arson in 2014 when he lit a bulletin board on fire in a laundromat.
During the course of the prosecution, a doubt was declared about Miravalle’s competency to stand trial, he was referred for an evaluation by doctors, court proceedings were temporarily suspended and doctors later determined Miravalle was competent to stand trial, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff, who handles most of the fire-related prosecutions for Lake County, said he charged Miravalle with arson of property and a strike for the prior arson conviction.
Angelina Potter was appointed as a public defender to represent Miravalle. On March 20, Miravalle pleaded no-contest to arson and admitted the prior strike conviction, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff said Judge Markham sentenced Miravalle on Monday to the upper term of six years in state prison.
Miravalle also will be required to register as an arson offender for his lifetime, Hinchcliff said.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Cal Fire said the Glass fire grew to 67,420 acres by Wednesday night, up by nearly 400 acres since Tuesday night, with containment up to 62 percent, an increase of eight percentage points over that same 24-hour period.
It has been burning since Sept. 27 in Napa and Sonoma counties.
Assigned resources on Wednesday night included 2,322 personnel, 292 engines, 32 water tenders, 14 helicopters, 39 hand crews, 15 dozers and 15 masticators, Cal Fire said.
The number of structures threatened by the fire was reduced to 13,326 on Wednesday, Cal Fire reported.
Updated damage numbers reported Wednesday showed that 1,536 structures – 914 in Napa, 622 in Sonoma – have been destroyed. Another 280 – 148 in Napa, 132 in Sonoma – have been damaged.
Evacuation warnings for two areas in Lake County, south of Middletown, remained in effect early Thursday morning, and Highway 29 south of Middletown to Tubbs Lane is still closed to traffic.
Cal Fire said activity across the fire is mainly limited to isolated pockets of heat and smoldering heavy fuels that are well inside the control lines.
On the northern portion of the east zone, a higher concentration of smoldering and creeping activity remains, but is not a threat to the control lines, Cal Fire said.
California’s largest wildland fire, the August Complex, is continuing to stretch farther over public lands to the north, in areas including the Mendocino National Forest in northern Lake County and in the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
Cal Fire said the complex, started by lightning on Aug. 17, reached 1,014,324 acres on Wednesday, with containment at 60 percent.
There are 4,914 personnel assigned across all four zones on the incident, officials said.
Officials said U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton’s 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force will begin operations on the Northeast Zone, based in Redding, on Thursday.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Burned Area Emergency Response specialists from the U.S. Forest Service recently completed their data gathering and fieldwork of the August Complex fire burn area.
The US Forest Service said the focus of the BAER team was to verify and finalize the soil burn severity map.
Soil burn severity is classified into levels between unburned and high.
Due to the size of the fire, its activity and the team’s inability to visit the northern portion of the fire, the BAER team assessed the southern portion of the fire, an area 521,000 acres in size.
The total fire area as of late Wednesday was more than 1,014,000 acres, officials reported.
BAER specialists will now use the soil burn severity data to identify if there are areas or features of concern where increased soil erosion, accelerated surface water run-off, and debris flows have the potential to impact human life and safety, property, and critical natural and cultural resources from rain events.
More information about the BAER team can be found here.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The CHP will use the grant funds to conduct enhanced-enforcement patrols and public awareness campaigns through Sept. 30, 2021.
“Whether traveling by motor vehicle, bicycle, or on foot, we all share the road. Bicycle and pedestrian safety is everyone’s responsibility,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “This grant provides us additional resources to focus on the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists, our most vulnerable roadway users.”
Pedestrian and bicycle fatalities accounted for nearly 33 percent of all traffic-related deaths in California in 2018.
The CHP reminds motorists to always scan each intersection for potential foot and bicycle traffic and to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians whether in marked or unmarked crosswalks.
The CHP also will use the grant funding to educate the public on safe and courteous traffic behavior through public presentations and safety publications, and to provide bicycle and pedestrian safety equipment for distribution including bicycle helmets and reflective gear.
Funding for this program was provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.