Clearlake Oaks >> As CAL FIRE helicopter crew 104 walked off the Harvey Fire line Thursday, covered in fire retardant after being hit by air tankers working the blaze, several nearby residents shouted out, “We love you, firefighters!” It was one of several fires Lake County personnel knocked down this week in up to triple-digit heat.
The Harvey Fire in total consumed 7 acres of wildland and damaged a boat as it burned for nearly eight hours before being fully contained just before 11 p.m., said Capt. Joe Fletcher, CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit public information officer.
More than 40 people, including firefighters and inmate crews, were still at the scene of the incident near Harvey Boulevard and Highway 20 Friday afternoon with two engines continuing clean up efforts, Fletcher said.
At the fire’s peak, 120 firefighters attacked the blaze while law enforcement directed traffic on Highway 20, which was closed for sometime to all traffic except emergency response vehicles. In addition to units from CAL FIRE, North Shore, Lakeport, Kelseyville and Lake County fire protection districts; the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded.
The crews battled the blaze with 17 engines, four air tankers, a bulldozer, helicopter and water tender.
And for some this wasn’t the first incident Thursday that required their response.
A fire near Borax Lake in Clearlake broke out that morning burning roughly 6 to 7 acres of wildland, according to scanner reports. Firefighters at the incident were pulled to respond to the Harvey Fire before wrapping up at Borax Lake.
On Tuesday, an abandoned pear orchard burned when exposed wires sparked a grass fire fueled by heat and wind.
Roughly 35 to 40 acres of vegetation and two power poles burned during the fire, which came within about 30 yards of Highway 29 in Kelseyville, said Chief Joe Huggins, of the Kelseyville Fire Protection District (KFPD), Friday afternoon.
Heavy smoke drift prompted the CHP to close down the highway intermittently as firefighters worked on containment against 18-19 mile winds, Huggins said. It took about three and a half hours to control the fire and another two for cleanup.
The fire began when the owner of the property went to turn on a well pump to irrigate walnuts in an area that once had a wind machine. The machine was gone, but the power was still there and old wires set off the blaze, Huggins said.
An estimated 30 firefighters from KFPD, CAL FIRE, Konocti Conservation Camp and Lakeport and Upper Lake fire protection districts responded with 10 engines, a bulldozer and air attack.
