By Denise Rockenstein — Staff reporter
CLEARLAKE — Lake County Fire Protection District (LCFPD) was dispatched at 6:44 a.m. Thursday for a structure fire on Meadowbrook Drive in Clearlake. The first unit was en route at 6:46 a.m. Fire Chief Willie Sapeta said the structure was 75-percent involved when the first unit arrived on scene at 6:51 a.m.
“How hot it was burning, it”s amazing it”s not on the ground,” Gene Holsey, 33, who was visiting in the area at the time of the fire, said.
The fire was first observed by Rhonda Straub and her fianc? Lee Buckmaster, who were driving along Old Highway 53 en route to Mendo Mill and Lumber, where Buckmaster works. Straub said she first thought the smoke was a dark rain cloud. Straub said they started down Meadowbrook Drive and saw black smoke billowing from the garage. Buckmaster got out of their vehicle and began screaming “Fire” while she sounded the vehicle”s horn, Straub said. “The whole neighborhood was asleep,” she said.
Straub said that Buckmaster made sure all the occupants were out of the home, which included two adults and an infant. “More excitement than I thought for a morning,” she said. “At least everyone got out OK.”
Straub said she saw the power lines catch fire and warned everyone to get away from them. She said the garage became fully engulfed with flames and that she could hear accelerants popping inside. “We couldn”t find the dog then the whole house went up,” she said. “Flames shot up within 30 seconds and the house was fully engulfed.”
Straub said that she had taken fire training at King”s Mountain Fire Brigade in the late 1980s. “That training kicked in today,” she said.
Straub said that it took a long time for fire personnel to arrive. According to Sapeta, the original 9-1-1 call was placed from a cell phone. Emergency 9-1-1 calls from cell phones are routed through the Ukiah dispatch office. He said not enough information was provided before the caller hung up. He said a second call from a land line provided a location of the fire and LCFPD was dispatched at 6:44 a.m. He said his station”s response time was seven minutes.
According to Sapeta, by 7:23 a.m., personnel could handle the incident with units on scene; the fire was considered contained at 7:32 a.m.
Sapeta said that the downed power lines complicated suppression activities, adding that the blaze in the single family dwelling threatened other structures to the north and south.
LCFPD responded with its chief, four engines, two medic units and a battalion chief. Northshore Fire Protection District and Southlake County Fire Protection District provided mutual aid. A total of 20 personnel worked the blaze; two LCFPD firefighters suffered minor injuries in the incident.
Sapeta said that command began releasing some units from the scene at about 9:30 a.m. Other units and investigators were expected to remain at the scene throughout the day for investigation purposes.
Editor”s note: Reporter Kevin N. Hume contributed to this article.
