“There are homes that have burned down, and I’m sure that mine will be one of them”, says Lower Lake resident Susan Smith, who spoke with The California Report. At least 1,500 more structures were threatened.
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Rick Davis, 40, told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2aTNOdK ) that he went to lunch in Lower Lake and rushed home when he heard the fire exploded.
The fire broke out Saturday afternoon and grew to almost 5 square miles as firefighters struggled to get a handle on the largely out-of-control blaze in 100-degree heat and windy conditions.
The fire reached Main Street in Lower Lake, a town of about 1,200 about 90 miles north of San Francisco, on Sunday and burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses as thick, black smoke loomed over the small downtown strip.
“The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year”, Chief Ken Pimlott, the director of Cal Fire, said in a statement. The blaze shifted north toward the lake, leading authorities to evacuate some residents by boat. “We can replace everything else”, she said.
The area already suffered huge blazes previous year when the Valley, Jerusalem and Rocky Fires broke out, taking several lives and destroying thousands of homes. About 4,000 people in the area remain under orders to evacuate.
No one has been injured.
One of the first things Mary Henderson grabbed was a tote bag filled with her late son’s childhood books, blanket and other keepsakes. After 1,500 acres burned a year ago on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks – a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.
They are still unsure of the shape of their house. The family is staying with friends.
A fast-moving wildfire has destroyed at least 175 structures, including a historic firehouse and an antiques store, in a Northern California town. Officials didn’t immediately have a tally of how many businesses and other buildings were lost.
“(There are) so many people here that I know that are in the same predicament as I am, ” she says.
The Clayton fire started Saturday off Highway 29 and Clayton Creek, south of the community of Lower Lake in Lake County, according to Cal Fire.
A fast-moving Northern California wildfire has destroyed more than 100 homes and forced thousands to flee an area where drought conditions and high temperatures are making firefighting hard.
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The flames jumped a road Sunday and moved into the town of 1,200 that’s still recovering from a devastating wildfire almost a year ago.
