LAKEPORT>> A hint of normalcy greeted residents and evacuees as another hectic week was winding down in Lakeport.
The scene early Friday morning in numerous retail areas of the city was a serene one with property owners, employees and residents sweeping storefronts, clearing debris and generally going about life in the aftermath of the mandatory evacuation order days earlier. Some wore masks to protect their lungs from the unhealthy air quality, while in general, the bustling activity of residents belied the intensity of both
the River and Ranch fires which were active the previous night.
According to Calfire, the total acreage burned had climbed to 153,738 acres and 30 percent contained with full containment not expected until at least another week.
Safeway located on 1701 11th Street in the Willow Tree Shopping Center reopened for business Friday, while Grocery Outlet was open to emergency crews and responders.
The Shoreline Coffee Shop on Main Street was a hub of activity with owner Yolanda Bautista and her staff waiting on customers, cleaning tables and greeting regulars by name. Bautista said the staff had arrived the day before to get the shop ready for the busy morning rush after mandatory evacuations were lifted. The Western portion of the county remained under mandatory evacuation north of the Clearlake area and Barlett Springs Road, east of the Lake-Mendocino county line, among other portions.
Debbie and Harold Wilkerson stepped into the Dollar Tree store looking for essentials like toiletries such as mouthwash.
“We just moved into this area a few months ago from Sonoma,” said Debbie Wilkerson as she rifled through some items near the front of the store. “They evacuated us during the fires in Santa Rosa. Just feels like these fires are following us sometimes.”
The store’s manager Emilio (last name withheld by request) said the store had opened with a minimal crew the previous evening and added that the most challenging aspect of coming back to work was getting the employees back. He said he talked to a number of them who could not make the drive because Highway 20 closures made it difficult to get around, while others were afraid to leave their properties in areas like Nice and Lucerne where fire activity still had the potential to threaten properties and homes. By Friday, the tally of structures destroyed had jumped to 41 residences, with 10 damaged and more than 9,000 threatened.
Forty-six-year-old Joe Weber and his girlfriend Cherie Bain were in the Maytag Laundromat early on Friday and practically had the place to themselves.
Weber worked as a fire fighter and agricultural developer in Sonoma County and now works in Lake County advising local tribes attempting to navigate the regulatory seas of the emerging legalized cannabis industry.
Wearing a black sweatshirt with a hemp plant emblazoned across it, Weber said he wished city officials would make more attempts to communicate and work with the tribes.
Bain has been evacuated on multiple occasions and she was grateful of firefighters’ efforts to save as many homes and people in every community affected by fires.
