LAKE COUNTY >> According to Cal Fire incident updates, the Ranch Fire burning in multiple counties dropped in containment level from Monday evening to Tuesday morning by 7 percent and burned an additional 1,055 acres.
On Monday two additional firefighter injuries were reported, bringing the total to four. The number of deaths related to the fire remained at one: Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett, a firefighter from Utah, was killed last week, possibly by tree debris relating to an aircraft fire retardant drop, according to a report from Cal Fire.
With regard to the increased acreage and decreasing containment level on the Ranch Fire, Cal Fire told the Record-Bee Tuesday that the “vast majority” of new acreage was being burned not by the Ranch Fire itself, but by backfires being lit by firefighters in order to control the forward march of the blaze. Cal Fire said that “they’re actually making good progress” despite the fact that “when they do firing operations they often are eating up more acreage.”
The Ranch Fire was reportedly also still “threatening” in the Lake Pillsbury area, with a “very active firefight” ongoing there. The terrain there, according to Cal Fire, is very steep and wooded, with “drought-stressed fuels” providing easy access for the flames and rough roads limiting firefighter access. Mandatory evacuations were still in place near there “east of the Lake-Mendocino County Line, south of the Lake-Mendocino-Glenn County Line, west of the Lake Colusa County Line, north of the fire perimeter and the Mendocino National
Forest boundary.” No additional mandatory evacuations were in effect for Lake County as of Tuesday afternoon.
No new structures were reported to have been destroyed over Monday night, with that total remaining at 157 residences and 120 “other” buildings.
