Fire Update: Lake County State of Emergency, Fire Weather Watch

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proclaimed a state of emergency for Lake County to support the response to the Cache Fire, which caused major damage to homes and other structures. This proclamation will help quicken removal of the resulting hazardous debris and ash, in addition to streamlining other public services for fire victims.

Newsom previously proclaimed a state of emergency in counties impacted by the Caldor, McFarland, Monument, Antelope, River, Dixie, Fly, Tamarack, Lava and Beckwourth Complex fires. The governor has also signed executive orders to support impacted communities and bolster wildfire response and recovery efforts.

The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for tonight and tomorrow morning for portions of Northern California including the entire Sacramento Valley and northern San Joaquin Valley. This means critical fire weather conditions are forecast.

“The fire weather watch forecast for late Thursday and Friday includes increased southwest winds, warmer temperatures, lower humidity and possible thunderstorms,” Cal Fire said in its latest incident report. Dry lightning is also a possibility in this forecast.

Crews battling the Caldor Fire in the Tahoe area have been able to increase containment to 50 percent ahead of the fire weather watch. Crews have made progress battling the fire in recent days, allowing some evacuation orders to be downgraded and warnings lifted for parts of El Dorado County.

“Even though these areas have been repopulated, it is important to know that we still have active fire in the area. We are not yet completely out of the woods on this,” Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said at a Tuesday news conference.

Beale Monday with the National Incident Management Organization Team said Wednesday afternoon the Kirkwood area is currently its highest priority as firefighters try to prevent fire spread to the south of Highway 88.