Rocky Fire grows to 18,000 acres in Lake County

A raging wildfire in Lake County on Friday consumed more remote pasture and timberland while also presenting about 5,000 residents of Lower Lake and the east side of Clearlake a difficult choice of whether to stay in their smoky and ash-laden environs or leave for a possible evacuation of the area.

In its third day, the Rocky fire continued on its path mostly toward to the north and east where it so far has burned about 18,000 acres, destroyed 28 structures and damaged two buildings. But the blaze’s path has been erratic, most notably on Friday afternoon moving toward the town of Lower Lake aided by a south-to-southwest wind at 11 mph.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office along with the Clearlake Police Department issued an advisory for the possible evacuation of the area. The advisory includes all areas east of Highway 53 from Riata Road south of Lower Lake north to Highway 20, which includes Ogulin Canyon. An evacuation advisory is not a mandatory evacuation, but it is strongly recommended, the Sheriff’s Office noted, as the fire threatens about 6,100 structures.

“This fire has been very unpredictable,” Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said. “It has been moving in very different directions.”

Carl White, owner of Danny’s Roadside Kitchen in Lower Lake, said a couple of his friends have already evacuated. Others were staying.

“I’m a barbecue place and across the street is the Tower Mart, and we have both been busier today than we have for a long time,” White said as he served customers Friday night. He noted that ash was raining down on his business.

At least nine commenters on a Facebook page called “On the Scanner Lake County” wrote on Friday night they were sticking it out under the advisory evacuation, with one woman noting: “My stubborn old man won’t leave. I want to leave.”

Others beseeched residents to leave. “For the sake of the firefighters evacuate if you’ve been asked to,” one wrote.

St. Helena Hospital in Clear Lake, which was in the advisory evacuation area, was still operating Friday night, spokeswoman Melissa Kinsel said. No one has been injured so far in the fire.

A priority of fire crews has been establishing a containment line on the west side of the fire given the population of the two nearby cities; so far, only 5 percent of the 28-square-mile blaze has been contained, according to Cal Fire.

Sheriff Martin noted that residents should at a minimum gather necessary clothing, medications, important papers and pets and be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. They can go to shelters at Middletown High School or Kelseyville High School.

He also urged that residents not come back until given clearance by local authorities, noting that the Wragg fire in Napa and Solano counties this week jumped a primary containment line and spread to an additional 400 acres before being contained. The Wragg fire, which has consumed more than 8,000 acres since July 22, was 92 percent contained as of Friday night, Cal Fire said.

“We are really crossing our fingers,” Martin said. “We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”

The Sheriff’s Office had already ordered residents in the Jerusalem Valley area east of Soda Creek to leave their homes and announced they were closing Jerusalem Grade at Spruce Grove Road outside Hidden Valley Lake.

Mandatory evacuations have been also imposed in the areas of Bonham Road, Quarter Horse Lane, Mustang Court, Bronco Court, Sunset Court, Morgan Valley east of Bonham Road, Canyon Road, June Bug Road, Cambell Ranch Road, Sloan Ranch Road, Sky High Ranch Road, Rocky Creek Road and Dam Road from the gate to the dam.

Given the severity of wildfires across the state, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday afternoon declared a state of emergency in California to help mobilize additional firefighting and disaster response resources. He also has asked for federal assistance for the Wragg fire and another one in Southern California, said Brad Alexander, spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services.

“California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” Brown said in a statement. “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines, and we’ll do everything we can to help them.”

In the Modoc National Forest, a firefighter was killed battling a blaze that broke out about 100 miles south of the Oregon border on Thursday. It had quickly grown to 800 acres by Friday night.

The Forest Service said David Ruhl, an engine captain from South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest who had been working in California since June, died sometime Thursday. His body wasn’t recovered until Friday, and officials didn’t immediately say how he died.

The Rocky fire, the largest wildfire in Northern California, has displaced about 500 people in rural areas from their homes, Martin said, and encroached on rural communities and Highway 20.

The surrounding area features a rugged and steep terrain of oak woodlands, grasslands and chaparral, dotted with hills and canyons that make access difficult for firefighters. About 1,300 fire personnel were working the fire Friday night with 131 fire engines, four air tankers and 19 helicopters, Cal Fire said.

The fire, which has burned thousands of acres in the Cache Creek Natural Area administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, on Friday had already spread into Yolo County, Martin said.

“You can see blue skies along the hill lines, but then there’s this eerie dark brown smoke drifting into Lower Lake,” said Cal Fire spokesman Paul Lowenthal, an assistant fire marshal for the Santa Rosa department called to the area to assist the firefight.

The weather has not been helpful so far in combating the wildfire. Triple-digit temperatures have combined with low humidity and no rain.

But Cal Fire noted that the outlook for Saturday was much better with a chance of thunderstorms, cooler temperatures and higher humidity.

Poor air quality also has affected residents. The Lake County Air Quality Management District reported that air conditions on Friday ranged from moderate to unhealthy, with noticeable smoke and ash fall throughout the county. The air quality should range from moderate to unhealthy for sensitive individuals through the weekend, and Lake County Public Health Officer Karen Tait advised county residents to be cautious if they partake in “normal outdoor activities.”

Crews have battled so far to keep the fire from crossing to the north of Highway 20, the main route between communities on the north side of Clear Lake and the roadway leading through Lake County from Highway 101 to the west and Interstate 5 to the east.

Late Thursday, officials ordered an evacuation advisory for residents along a rural corridor of the highway just 5 miles east of Clearlake Oaks at New Long Valley Road and eastward to Colusa County, including the Double Eagle Ranch.

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon about 8 miles east of Lower Lake along Morgan Valley Road.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.