LOWER LAKE >> Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin seemed like a seer Sunday when he addressed concerns of many Spring Valley residents regarding a potential community evacuation due to the Rocky Fire currently raging out of control in south and east Lake County.
“Spring Valley is a great concern of mine,” Martin said in an exclusive interview with the Lake County Record-Bee following Sunday afternoon’s town hall meeting in Lower Lake to address public concerns about the fire.
He said there was a “great deal of conversation” about Spring Valley at an emergency Saturday night meeting by local and regional officials on the Rocky Fire, shortened by locals to “Rocky.”
Martin said of the massive blaze threatening thousands of homes in Lake County, “We are monitoring it and we will let the (Spring Valley) residents know immediately of any evacuation.”
Several hours later, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies and volunteers were driving through Spring Valley, telling residents to “leave immediately” and “get out now” due to a suddenly-developed threat to the community by Rocky caused by the unpredictable and ever-shifting devil winds.
Some drove up and down streets announcing the evacuation over their car loudspeakers. Others went door-to-door advising residents of the order to leave. Deputies and volunteers took the names and addresses of those who said they did not intend to evacuate and addresses of residences where there was no answer.
At least one Spring Valley resident reported his residence was visited five times over several hours by deputies reminding him that a mandatory evacuation order was in place. Before the first deputy left, he tied a piece of yellow police tape to a pole at the front of the property.
This seemed to be a change from Martin’s statements at about 4:30 p.m. when he said he saw “some movement” of the fire away from Spring Valley although he added, “We’re not out of the woods yet,” realizing the unusually changing and unpredictable nature shown by Rocky.
Martin said he well-remembered the chaotic situation in Spring Valley during the Wye and Walker fires in 2012 when residents did not receive evacuation orders until the last moment, with many residents learning of the evacuation through sheriff’s deputies driving around the valley announcing it over loudspeakers. Many other residents missed the announcement and sheltered in place.
Power was out, telephone landlines were down, Internet connections were dead and Spring Valley had no cell phone service.
Several current Spring valley residents remember the evacuation of 2012, when they were driving out of the valley on New Long Valley Road with fire on both sides and flaming logs occasionally rolling down hills and across the road.
Since the Wye and Walker fires, Verizon Wireless has installed a cell phone tower on Indian Hill Road, bringing mobile service to most residents since other wireless carriers have leased space on the tower, disguised as a wooden water tower.
Also, “The community has experience in the evacuation process,” having gone through the Wye and Walker Fire evacuations three years ago.
The Wye and Walker fires in 2012 that served as the wake-up call for effort to bring cell phone service to the valley. The two fires started on August 12, 2012, along separate areas of East Highway 20 but soon merged into one fire. It consumed nearly 8,000 acres, destroyed or damaged four residences, and injured three people before it was contained six days later.
For a time, the fire closed part of Highway 20, blocking access to New Long Valley and Old Long Valley roads, the only roads in and out of Spring Valley. Cal Fire ordered a mandatory evacuation of Spring and Long valleys but with telephone lines down and no cell phone service, the evacuation order only reached some of the residents.
Another reason Martin believes the valley is better prepared for an evacuation is that in the past three years, a Community Emergency Response Team has been established and currently has 12 volunteers.
Earlier, in the town hall meeting, Martin was asked about the evacuation process and how it’s determined that one is needed.
“We evaluate everything,” Martin said. “We really, really want to make sure that everyone is safe. We would rather error on the side of caution.”
He also warned of the unpredictability of Rocky.
“This fire is doing things that no other fire has ever done before,” Martin said, making it that more difficult to fight and to predict its behavior.
As of 4 a.m. Monday, much of Spring Valley, along with adjacent Long Valley, had been evacuated. However, at least a few dozen residents remained, some citing that there was little smoke and no flames visible from the valley and no ash.
Monday evening that all changed.
