Lake County residents tell of futile effort to halt Valley fire at its start

In the hours before wind-driven flames erupted into a firestorm that turned the eyes of the world on rural Lake County, a strong scent of smoke on the northern flank of Cobb Mountain caught Jim Fulkerson’s attention.

Going out to investigate, Fulkerson, who lives part-time on the 8000 block of High Valley Road near Bottle Rock Road in the community of Cobb, found several patches of grass burning in a the field near a neighbor’s home about 200 yards away.

The firefight started there, with another neighbor, Troy Nelson, 40, grabbing a garden hose and frantically, fruitlessly trying to squirt water on the quickly expanding fire.

At one point, Nelson even used his hand beneath a spigot to try to direct water onto a nearby log pile that had caught fire and was scorching the house’s exterior. Another resident from nearby joined the fray, as well.

But even from the start, there seemed to be no catching up with what would soon be known as the Valley fire, now a 4-day-old inferno that swept across 40,000 acres of land in a matter of hours Saturday, sending thousands fleeing as it rampaged through one community after another with a speed that stunned even veteran firefighters and Lake County residents stalked by wildfire all summer.

“It was an overwhelming fire already,” Nelson said.

What unleashed the flames that have inflicted historic damage on Lake County remains a mystery. Any clues into the cause have not been divulged by state investigators.

Nelson and his mother, Colleen Zimmerman, who quickly drove over from Loch Lomond to help her son gather essentials, became the first of the Valley fire’s evacuees. Zimmerman said her first reaction was “pack and get out.”

“The winds were whirling. The winds were just outrageous,” Zimmerman, 61, said Tuesday. “You could just tell ‘We’re in trouble,’ and it kept burning toward his house.”

While Cal Fire officials declined to elaborate on their inquiry into cause of the 67,200-acre blaze, agency personnel on Tuesday were scrutinizing the area where Fulkerson and Nelson reported seeing flames. The driveway was cordoned off as well.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant would confirm only that the fire started in the area of High Valley Road and said investigators had been looking into the incident since Saturday, including talking to neighbors.

He cautioned against drawing conclusions prematurely.

“Investigations like this often take time, because even fires that appear obvious may not really be that cut and dry,” he said.

One of four people who own the house where the fire appears to have started, Jim Pinch, said he and his wife were visiting family when the fire broke out and are “as much in the dark” as anybody. He said they still have not been able to return home, though both his and the home where Nelson lives survived.

Nelson was inside the converted garage studio he rents from homeowner Dan Bennett when Fulkerson rapped on his door around 1:15 p.m. Saturday and told him to call 911 about a fire.

Nelson said he was sprinting down the road as he called and, seeing two vehicles parked in the drive, pounded on the door to alert neighbors who, it turned out, weren’t at home.

Fulkerson, who lives in a motor home he parks outside Bennett’s home for several months a year, said the spot fires were 30 or 40 yards off the road inside a barbed wire fence, unattended and without explanation. He said he called 911 about 5 minutes after he told Nelson to alert authorities, after not hearing any approaching sirens.

“I don’t know why God chose me to see this,” Fulkerson said. “I’m not one to want to be in the limelight or nothing.”

But Nelson said it appeared to him the initial fire was coming from the back side of their neighbor’s house, near a vegetable garden and the log pile.

Finding no one at home, he quickly caught hold of garden hose to begin what he said was no more than a 5-minute effort to douse the flames. He said he threw several burning wooden chairs away from the house and tried to use a wooden plank to smother flames that had reached a wood shed containing a lawn mower and gasoline containers he found to be empty.

Within moments, Nelson was walking on fire, seeing flames coming up under his flip-flops. It was time to flee.

His mother and step-dad had arrived by then and, while he and Zimmerman hastily packed, her husband hosed down the driveway and garage hoping to keep it from igniting.

Strong winds were driving the flames to the south, toward rural communities south of Cobb Mountain, including Middletown, where the fire by 10 p.m. was burning blocks of homes.

Waiting for firefighters to arrive, Nelson took out is cellphone and recorded some video of the fire.

Within minutes, the flames had reached a nearby house, its contents exploding in the heat, likely from ammunition stored inside, Nelson said.

“That house is gone,” Nelson says on the video, predicting the fire’s spread. “There’s nothing to stop it. I’ve hiked these hills so far back here. There’s just rolling hills back this direction.”

At one point, the fire briefly reversed direction and came back toward Bennett’s home, though it, too ultimately was saved.?Nelson was still on the scene when the first fire engine arrived. He saw a helicopter land not far off to initiate an attack on the blaze. It was likely the Boggs Mountain Helitack Crew 104. Four of its members would be overrun by the fire before 4 p.m., forcing the men into emergency tent-like shelters. They all suffered second-degree burns and remain under treatment at a Sacramento hospital.

Nelson said he wanted to stay until he knew his landlord’s property was safe, but said he had to go when manzanita bushes opposite the driveway ignited.

“I peeled out of there, to tell the truth,” Nelson said. “The fire was coming up on us. When they caught, the fire was like 30 feet tall and we had to go.”

A few minutes later, after pulling to the side of the road uphill from Nelson’s home, the mother and son watched beneath the black cloud of smoke as flames torched trees and turned the sky orange, producing a sound Zimmerman remembers clearly.

“Like thunder,” she said. “It was just whirling, and just roaring. You could just hear the fire. I’ve never heard that before.”

For complete wildfire coverage go to: www.pressdemocrat.com/wildfire.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.