LAKE COUNTY — Lake County air quality is missing the state health mark by 155 to 223 percent as fires surrounding the area continue to pour smoke in to the county”s air basin. CAL Fire is calling the Walker Fire in the southeastern portion of the Indian Valley Reservoir and Walker Ridge near the Lake-Colusa county line one of the largest fires in the state.
The blaze ignited Sunday afternoon and grew rapidly from 3,500 acres Monday morning to an estimated 10,000 Tuesday morning. Division Chief Wayne Connor of the Sonoma-Lake-Napa CAL Fire unit said the blaze could grow to 15,000 acres, according to estimates from firefighters at the scene Tuesday morning. As of 3 p.m., the blaze was 5 percent contained.
“This fire is running with a lot of burn spots out in front, so it”s hard to control. It would be very easy for it to be 10,000 acres by now, but that”s an educated guess,” Connor said.
State CAL Fire spokesperson Janet Upton said crews and resources were spread thin between nearly 1,000 fires statewide, prompting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to authorize military aircraft from Nevada and Oregon to help extinguish the fires.
“It”s a bad one. We”re transporting resources up there from the wildfire in Napa and Solano counties. We”re buttoning that up and as soon as equipment and resources become available we”re sending those right to Lake County,” Connor said.
Five hundred CAL Fire personnel were at the wildfire on the Napa-Solano county line, according to Connor. As of Tuesday morning, the wildfire had consumed 4,089 acres and was 80 percent contained. Connor said 134 CAL Fire personnel were at the Walker Fire Tuesday morning, in addition to firefighters from the Northshore, Lakeport, Kelseyville, Lake County and South Lake County fire protection districts.
Approximately 25 homes in the Double Eagle Ranch subdivision, one in the Bear Valley Ranchland subdivision and 10 in the Wilbur Hot Springs subdivision were vacated. Contrary to a previous CAL Fire report, residents in the Spring Valley subdivision are not in danger, according to Connor.
“We are keeping it east of Chalk Mountain, west of Wilbur Springs and north of Highway 20. It”s in the southeastern portion of the Indian Valley Reservoir, and it”s on both sides of Walker Ridge Road and on both sides of the county line between Lake and Colusa counties,” Connor said.
The Walker Fire is one of numerous wildfires in the state that is pouring smoke into the Lake County Air Basin, according to Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Bob Reynolds.
Upton said 983 wildfires caused by approximately 6,000 lightning strikes are raging statewide. The cause of the Walker Fire is under investigation, she said, although it started when the storm system that sparked wildfires throughout the state passed over Northern California.
“We still have house fires and wildfires caused by other events than lightning,” Upton said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
