Residents evacuated in face of fast-moving Lake County wildfire

A fast-moving wildfire erupted Wednesday afternoon about 12 miles southeast of Clearlake in Lake County, sending flames racing over more than 4 square miles, torching wooded hillsides and rural properties, including several structures, and forcing hundreds of residents to flee as a towering column of smoke rose over the greater North Coast.

The blaze, one of the region’s largest this year, was sparked just before 3:30 p.m. in heavy brush and rugged timberlands east of Lower Lake, and it prompted immediate evacuations on the outskirts of town as the fire’s boundaries expanded amid scorching temperatures and tinder-dry fuels.

Named the Rocky fire because of its proximity to Rocky Creek just north of Morgan Valley Road east of town, the blaze grew from 150 to 3,000 acres in a matter of hours as the mercury topped 100 degrees.

A South Lake County Fire captain said the resulting mushroom-like smoke cloud made it look “like a bomb went off. You can see it from everywhere.”

By 10 p.m., about 500 residents were affected by the mandatory evacuations, with some seeking overnight refuge at the Highland Senior Center in Clearlake, the county’s official evacuation site for the blaze. No injuries were reported.

The fire’s north and westward movement toward Lower Lake, a town of about 1,300 people, suggested additional evacuations might be required, though the speed with which the fire was spreading made it too difficult to predict where it would go next, Cal Fire spokeswoman Suzie Blankenship said.

She said dropping temperatures at sundown offered some hope that rapidly mobilized fire crews working through the night might be able to get the upper hand.

But “it’s scary,” she conceded. “It’s a fast-moving fire.”

The massive perimeter of flames, with multiple fronts burning east of Lower Lake and heavy smoke that reddened night skies around Sonoma County, offered grim signs of the summer’s already torrid fire season, one exacerbated by the state’s four-year drought.

Altogether, 14 large wildfires were burning across California on Wednesday, including the Rocky fire and four other large blazes sparked in the day’s hot, gusty conditions. Similar conditions were expected again Thursday, with the forecast calling for a peak temperature of 104 in Lower Lake.

Clearlake resident Cheryl Johns said the hills east of Lower Lake were aglow in bright orange as the sun set Wednesday.

“If I lived in Lower Lake, I would be terrified right now,” Johns said, as she watched from a KFC parking lot.

Anana Bliss, who was among 30 or so people who sought refuge at the Highland Senior Center, had been hosting her visiting daughter and son-in-law at her home off Morgan Valley Road east of Lower Lake when the fire erupted.

“We sat and watched it like you watch TV,” said Donna Magee, Bliss’ daughter. Then they got a call from the Sheriff’s Office warning them to be prepared to evacuate. Eventually, an official came to the house and issued the order to go, in the middle of preparations for dinner.

They took suitcases, some papers and documents and the food, and left.

Bliss said it was the second time she’s been evacuated for a wildfire in 15 years. “There’s nothing that can’t be replaced,” she said.

Some at the senior center were headed for motel rooms Wednesday night. Food and fold-up cots were available at the center for those staying the night.

Patty Hackett, who was at the center with her father, said the pair couldn’t see flames Wednesday afternoon from their Lower Lake home, but they watched as ever-larger clouds of smoke billowed into the sky.

“We just saw it growing and growing and growing,” Hackett said.

Blankenship said evacuations were ordered along Morgan Valley Road east of Highways 53 and 29 to the Napa and Colusa county lines.

Cal Fire reported that several outbuildings were destroyed by the blaze. Live video from ABC 7 News showed several structures burning along one front of the blaze Wednesday afternoon. Another front was burning along what appeared to be an undeveloped ridge, in steep and heavy timber.

“It’s coming over the top. … It’s coming over the ridge,” Robin Clark, a worker at the Tower Mart convenience store in Lower Lake, said by phone as she viewed the smoke and flames. “It’s coming to town.”

Morgan Valley Road was closed to non-emergency traffic, though merchants said it was busy with fire trucks and other apparatus, and several smaller roads around Bonham Road were shut down as well.

A parking lot at the state Department of Social Services office in Lower Lake, at 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway, was being used as a shelter for animals.

Shane Merrill, assistant manager at DJ’s Pizza in town, said some of the evacuees had sought refuge at the eatery until he himself received an automated call instructing him to close up and evacuate early Wednesday evening.

But Kimberly Bauer, a bartender at Maynard’s Sports Bar on Main Street, said she was still open for business and patrons were waiting to see whether or not the entire town would be cleared.

“You can see the flames on the mountain,” Bauer said.

The blaze contributed to a statewide scramble to mobilize and assign firefighters, including some who were redirected to Lake County from the week-old Wragg fire that has consumed 7,500 acres near Lake Berryessa.

By nightfall, 350 fire personnel were battling the Rocky fire, Blankenship said. Eight air tankers and eight helicopters were also working the fire, along with 35 engines and nine bulldozers. The fire was entirely uncontained Wednesday night.

Cal Fire Capt. Pierre Boudreaux said from Cal Fire’s Howard Forest Station near Willits that the entire day had been consumed with dispatching fire crews to various fires, including two in the Redding/Shasta County area.

Cal Fire had made progress on the Wragg fire a day after it jumped its primary containment line on the south side and spread over 400 acres.

Officials have reported that the forward progress of this fire activity has been stopped and is now 80 percent contained. Cal Fire estimates the fire will be contained Sunday, Aug. 2.