LAKE COUNTY— Even as county officials reminded residents this week that they should prepare for wildfires and other emergencies which are likely to happen at any time, Gov. Gavin Newsom during his latest press conference informed Californians about 23 major fire emergencies throughout the state.
“We are experiencing fires the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years,” Newsom said at a press briefing Wednesday, adding that unlike the Camp Fire in 2018 which ravaged the town of Paradise leaving 86 people dead in its wake and unlike last year’s Kincade fire, the fires in the region this week caused by lightning from recent storms are more widespread in area and tougher for firefighters to manage.
According to scanner traffic, crews were toned out as part of the Lightning Complex fire Tuesday afternoon off Butts Canyon Road near Guenoc Winery in Middletown, just the latest blaze in an already hectic nascent fire season not helped by record level heatwaves.
The Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office issued a temporary emergency closure for some of the BLM-managed public lands within and adjacent to the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Lake and Napa counties due to wildland fire danger. The BLM noted that “closure is effective immediately and remains in effect until further notice.”
Officials added that the 15-10, Gamble, Green, Hennessey, Markey, Morgan and Spanish fires have burned more than 46,000 acres, are zero percent contained, and are being managed by a CalFire Type 1 team as the Lake Napa Unit (LNU) Lightning Complex.
“This closure is necessary to protect public land users from risks associated with active wildland fire, protect wildland fire fighters from recreational activities, including hunting of wild game; off-highway vehicle use; suppression repair; emergency stabilization; burned area rehabilitation and damage to recreational and natural resources,” officials stated Wednesday.
An evacuation order for Napa County went into effect that day as a result of the LNU Lightning Complex encompassing Highway 121 ((Monticello Road) – from Wooden Valley Road to Vichy Ave. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office later called for evacuations for residents living in and around Hidden Valley Lake and Jerusalem Valley areas of Lake County which included residents living North of Butts
Canyon Road, South of Hofacker Ln to Morgan Valley Rd, East of Hwy. 29 and West of the Lake/Napa County line.
By early Thursday according to CAL Fire officials, 30,500 structures had been threatened by the LNU Lightning Complex, 105 destroyed and 70 damaged. The fire stood at 131,000 acres with zero containment. Four civilian injuries were also reported. In Lake County the Round Fire was at 4,000 acres Thursday.
According to Crystal Markytan, director of the Lake County Department of Social Services and Lake County’s designated shelter coordinator, evacuations and sheltering will look much different under COVID-19, making advance preparation and flexibility more important than ever before.
Markytan said that it is not advisable for residents to flock to congregate shelters if a large incident were to occur because of the reduced capacity this year at shelter locations due to COVID-19. “Although California’s statewide COVID-19 stay-at-home order remains in effect,” noted Markytan, “you should follow an evacuation order regardless of whether you have COVID-19 or believe you may have been exposed. For this reason, this year we are requiring everyone to wear a face covering when you arrive at any evacuation location.”
The shelter director said that the Red Cross is close to finalizing an agreement with the Mendocino Lake County campus to make that facility available for limited stay by residents in the event of a fire emergency. “The big unknown, of course, is the size of an event,” she said adding that the Red Cross statewide has been reaching out to motel owners to see if they can make vouchers available when any kind of evacuation occurs. These vouchers will be prioritized for the medically fragile to utilize before the rest of the population.
“(Because of COVID-19) Our capacity for sheltering is roughly a third of what it has been in the past,” noted Markytan in a recent press release. “If you can seek shelter with family or friends, have homeowners insurance that will cover the cost of a motel or access to another location, we urge you to exercise those options.”
New this year in response to the pandemic is a plan to direct people to temporary evacuation points which will act as safe receiving sites for people evacuated from an emergency where initial assistance, COVID-19 screening and direction will be provided. At a temporary evacuation point, people will be expected to wear a face covering and to keep six feet of distance from anyone they do not live with. If possible, some will be directed to stay in their vehicle to reduce contact with others and no one exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms will be allowed to move on to a congregate shelter.
“We will be there along with Public Health,” said Markytan, noting that these temporary sites will be similar to the coronavirus testing sites where people roll down their driver side windows to get tested. Although there is not a quick test available at shelters or TEPs, Markytan noted that where people are directed to shelter will depend on whether they are COVID-19 positive or symptomatic or in a high-risk or vulnerable category for exposure to coronavirus.
According to Markytan, when the Sheriff’s Office gives an evacuation order, people will have to go to a TEP for pre screening before proceeding to one of two sites. So far the planned sites include Lakeside County Park in Lakeport and the old airport off Highway 53 in Clearlake, which was already used Wednesday for evacuations from this week’s fires.
The County coordinates with the local school districts to assist those relying on public transportation. Markytan said the Lake County Office of Education works closely with Lake County Transit where residents not driving themselves to TEPs will need to be screened before moving to a congregate shelter in order to prevent getting others from getting sick.
“It is not a great plan that we have, but this is the plan we have,” she said, adding that County staff and volunteers will follow both the Red Cross national safety guidelines and the guidelines put out by the state of California. The Grand Jury in their 2019-20 report, noted with the emergence of the COVID19 pandemic, the threat of a triple emergency– wildfire evacuation, shelter in place and power shut offs- could unfold making effective official responses extremely difficult.
PG&E representatives have gone on record to say they are working hard to make any power shut-offs this year shorter in duration and that their goal is to restore power within 12 daylight hours to 24 hours following these types of events.
