Crews continue to battle Ranch fire as another blaze breaks out in Lake County

Crews continued working to contain the Ranch fire Sunday as yet another blaze broke out in Lake County east of Clearlake Oaks, Cal Fire said.

The new fire was reported about 5 p.m. in the area of Highway 20 and New Long Valley Road and had burned 150 acres, a Cal Fire dispatcher said Sunday evening. Firefighters were responding with air and ground resources but had no containment on the fire, which was moving at a moderate rate of speed and had potential to grow to 400 acres. The cause was unknown.

Meanwhile, Cal Fire said the Ranch fire, the largest wildfire in recorded California history, has burned 402,065 acres. The blaze increased nearly 23,300 acres from the night before, with the growth fueled in part by backfiring operations in the northeastern flank of the Mendocino National Forest, Cal Fire Capt. Cary Wright said. Containment remained at 67 percent.

“The weather has cooperated,” Wright said. “Three or four days ago, we had done some forecasting and felt like it was a good time to take advantage of Mother Nature and be a little more aggressive with the fires and burnouts … it's proven to be successful, but at this point, we're still not out of the woods.”

More than 3,000 personnel are still assigned to the fire. The Ranch fire and the smaller and fully contained River fire, which jointly make up the 450,985-acre Mendocino Complex, both began July 27 - exactly a month from Monday. The cause of both fires is still under investigation.

Full containment in the Ranch fire is expected Sept. 1, Cal Fire said.

You can reach Staff Writer Hannah Beausang at 707-521-5214 or hannah.beausang@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang. You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.