Target shooter sparked 2018 Pawnee fire in Lake County

A target shooter sparked the Pawnee fire that burned ?15,185 acres in eastern Lake County last year, Cal Fire officials said Friday.

The fire started June 23, 2018, on private property about ?5 miles northeast of Clearlake Oaks near Pawnee Trail and New Long Valley roads, destroying 22 structures including a dozen homes in the Spring Valley area.

Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said his office received Cal Fire’s investigative report April 9 and has not yet begun to review the case to determine if criminal charges are warranted against the suspected target shooter.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet,” Hinchcliff said.

Cal Fire spokesman Will Powers declined to provide any additional information about the Pawnee fire or the 10-month investigation.

“Once the case is turned over to them, we can’t speak on the case,” Powers said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said the findings provide an opportunity “to send a message to people, in fire-prone California you need to be careful no matter what you’re doing.”

“This should be a reminder to people, even when you’re involved in an ordinarily harmless activity, you have to be careful,” Martin said. “Any spark can spark a fire.”

In a press release, Cal Fire said “bullet fragments can be extremely hot and easily start a fire.” It advised people to avoid shooting guns in areas with dry vegetation and to place targets on dirt or gravel. The agency said solid copper ammunition has the highest risk of starting a fire and lead core bullets are less likely to ignite dry vegetation.

Cal Fire said the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Rohnert Park Public Safety Department assisted in their investigation.

The Pawnee fire burned in a rural and sparsely populated area of the county near the Indian Valley Reservoir. It took firefighters 16 days to contain the blaze.

Fueled by heat and wind gusts, the fire sparked on the third day of summer, and it proved to foreshadow what would become a brutal fire season in Lake County and across Northern California.

The next month, two fires would ignite on the afternoon of July 23 and collectively blacken more than 700 square miles of land in Lake and Mendocino counties, the largest in California history.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@jjpressdem.