Several dozen homes were destroyed and one civilian injured in a Northern California wildfire that erupted Wednesday afternoon in the southeast area of Clearlake, a small city of 15,000 just north of the Bay Area.
“Hopefully we don’t find any things worse than that,” Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said in a video update on Facebook at 5:45 p.m.
Martin noted that Highways 29 and 53 have reopened with many streets still closed.
The Cache Fire spread rapidly after sparking about 2 p.m., and by 6 p.m., Cal Fire said the burn area was 75 acres and “forward progress has stopped” though all evacuation orders and warnings remained in effect. While the agency said spread was under control, there was no containment.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued mandatory evacuation orders when the fire broke out near Dam Road.
The sheriff’s office said residents in the following zones should evacuate immediately: north of Moran Valley Road and south of Cache Creek, in the zone designated LOW-E159; and north of Main Street and south of Cache Creek, or LOW-E160, as well as zones LOW-E163, LOW-E164 and LOW-E166; CLE-E157-A, south of 18th Avenue and east of State Route 53; and LOW-E169, south of Main Street and Morgan Valley Road and north of Spruce Grove Road.
To find your zone, search by address using this map.
An evacuation warning is in place for zones LOW-E170, south of Moran Valley Road; LOW-E176, southwest of Spruce Grove Road and north of Henderson Ranch Road; LOW-E167, west of State Route 29; and LOW-E161, west of Highway 53 and north of Highway 29.
A shelter was set up at Kelseyville High School at 5480 Main St. in Kelseyville.
A series of roads were closed in response to the fire, including SR-53 at Dam Road, Dam Road at Jack in the Box, Main Street at Highway 53, State Route 29 at Siegler Canyon Road and State Route 29 at Spruce Grove Road.
As of Wednesday at about 3 p.m., what authorities are calling the Cache Fire had expanded to more than 100 acres. Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit is responding to assist with the fire, which is near 6th Avenue and Cache Street in Clearlake, Cal Fire said.
Authorities said they had called an ambulance for an “elderly burn victim.” No other injuries have been reported.
Cal Fire urged caution if you are traveling to the area.
“Additional resources are moving quickly to the Fire and air attack has started,” state Sen. Mike McGuire tweeted. “This is a fast moving incident, please follow evacuation orders.”
According to @CAFireScanner, Lower Lake Elementary is being evacuated.
At least six major wildfires are currently burning in California, according to Cal Fire. The largest fire, called the Dixie Fire, had burned 635,728 acres and was 33% contained as of 7:46 a.m. Wednesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.