Update: Schools closed, some evacuations remain due to Cache Fire in Lake County
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Some evacuation orders have been lifted and others remain in place in the city of Clearlake and the Lake County town of Lower Lake for a fire that started amid gusty winds Wednesday afternoon.
Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit said around 1 p.m. it was assisting with a vegetation fire near Sixth Avenue and Cache Street in Clearlake.
The Clearlake Police Department minutes later ordered mandatory evacuations for the area of the Cache Creek Apartment complex at Dam Road and Lake Street, east to Betz Lane, as well as between Dam and Tish-a-Tang roads. The area includes dozens of homes as well as a mobile home park.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office ordered mandatory evacuations that were quickly expanded to include zones 159, 160, 161 and 167, making up most of the town of Lower Lake.
Orders were lifted around 8 p.m. for all those zones except 160, which makes up a large chunk of Lower Lake located northeast of Main Street and Highway 53, as crews got a handle on the fire.
The evacuation map showed Lower Lake Elementary and Lower Lake High campuses still under mandatory orders, and both schools confirmed they are closed Thursday.
“There will be no in person nor on line classes (Thursday) as we work through today’s events and challenges,” Lower Lake Elementary wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday evening.
Police also around 8 p.m. said residents of Cache Creek Apartments could repopulate that complex, but evacuations remained in place for evacuation Zone 157-A in southeast Clearlake.
Cal Fire LNU announced on Twitter around 3:30 p.m. that the Cache Fire had burned about 100 acres. By 7:45 p.m., Cal Fire officials announced firefighters had stopped forward progress on the Cache Fire, and the size estimate was revised to 80 acres. with better mapping. Containment grew to 20%.
Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin in a video update post to Facebook said “several dozen” homes appeared to have been destroyed and that one civilian injury was reported in the Cache Fire. Martin said the fire appeared to have calmed down as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Cal Fire firefighters were assisting the Lake County Fire Protection District on battling the blaze. Officials at the Fire Protection District in a Facebook post urged residents in evacuated zones to leave the area “safely and calmly.” Fire officials there were not available Wednesday to release any details about the fire.
Lake County fire officials estimated the fire destroyed at least 12 structures, including damage to a mobile home park, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The fire ignited during a red flag warning from the National Weather Service, which warns of intense wind gusts coming from the north meeting with extremely dry fuels caused by drought. The warning is in place through 11 a.m. Thursday.
About 1,400 people live in Lower Lake and more than 15,000 in Clearlake.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
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