Clearlake >> Hundreds of people were evacuated from their apartment homes for several hours because of a wildland fire that damaged several structures Sunday afternoon.
More than 120 firefighters responded to the blaze that broke out just before 5 p.m. near the Cache Creek Apartments on the 1600 block of Dam Road in Clearlake. Combined, four fire crews from Cal Fire, Lake County and South Lake Fire protection districts attacked the fire with 14 engines, six bulldozers, five water tenders two air tankers and a helicopter.
The Red Cross and Lake County Animal Rescue also responded to the incident. “There was a lot of potential for that fire to spread quickly, but because of the quick response they were able to contain it at 10 acres,” Suzanne Blankenship, Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit public information officer, said Monday afternoon. When the fire first erupted, authorities considered bringing in support from the teams battling the Wragg Fire in Napa County. But local companies were able to pounce on the blaze.
“Air resources and the ground crew worked fast as a team battling this rapid moving wildland fire during the initial attack period,” Blankenship stated in an incident report sent Sunday at about 7:30 p.m. Firefighters had stopped the forward rate of spread of the blaze and were working on containment lines and control lines with 50 percent containment.
More than 400 people from the apartments and surrounding residences were evacuated to Wal-Mart and were expected to return to their homes at 10 p.m. at the time of the report.
However, “we were very successful stopping the forward process of the fire,” and residents were able to return by 8:30 p.m., Blakenship said on Monday.
She added that because of the drought, engines had four instead of the usual three firefighters due to severe wildland fire conditions.
“It made a huge difference,” Blankenship said, to have the extra man power and help with evacuations.
The fire was fully contained by 10:30 p.m. Sunday. No injuries were reported, but the blaze destroyed a mobile home and caused minor damage to two apartment buildings. The cause of the incident is under investigaiton
“Temperatures in the triple digits are predicted for our area in the next few days,” Blankeship said. “With the high temperatures comes additional wildland fire potential. Reminding all that when community embraces fire prevention it benefits everyone.”
