[UPDATE 7:28 p.m.] Residents Fleeing in Clearlake as Vegetation Fire Spreads
Smoke rising from a fire in Clearlake. [Photo from the Axis -St Helena Fire Camera at 6:04 p.m.]
Two tankers, 85 and 86 are on the way, according to FlightRadar.
Officers are looking for a suspect who may have started the fire, according to the scanner.
“It’s about 100 yards from C Building,” said one firefighter over the scanner.
“I think I’ve got everybody out,” another replied.
Tanker that is dropping retardant on the fire. The green line shows the path it is traveling. [Image from FlightRadar]
UPDATE 6:30 p.m.: The Clearlake Police sent out the following Nixle alert: “PLEASE AVOID THE AREA FROM HWY 53 AND DAM RD TO LAKE ST DUE TO FIRE IN THE AREA.”
UPDATE 6:36 p.m.: The Incident Commander reports over the scanner that the fire is “three to four acres and holding.” He also said that the evacuation orders were still in place.
UPDATE 6:40 p.m.: The Incident Commander said, “Looks like got a line around the whole fire…smoke subsided… .” Both tankers are still on the fire.
UPDATE 7:28 p.m.: The tankers have been released and firefighters are mopping up.
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I keep wondering how all the fire retardant dropped in such close proximity will effect Clear Lake since it’s been so many years in a row of that stuff being dropped in all the watersheds draining to the Lake.
I hope someone is studying that.
It’s a non toxic fertilizer I believe.
Newer retardants use ammonium sulfate or ammonium polyphosphate with attapulgite clay thickener or diammonium phosphate with a guar gum derivative thickener. These are not only less toxic but act as fertilizers to help the regrowth of plants after the fire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_firefighting#Fire_retardant
What ever the firefighters are doing this year, keep doing it! Great job!
Seriously.
A strong winter plus the best firefighters in the world are giving Californians a much needed break from record setting fires.
Thanks to all.
You left off the next sentence “Fire retardants often contain wetting agents, preservatives and rust inhibitors.” It is these substances that are often toxic. Wetting agents are surfactants which are also added to pesticide mixes and are many times found to be more toxic than the pesticides themselves.
Unless one knows every ingredient in the full mix than it shouldn’t be considered safe. Yes, some of the substances are not toxic, but some are, and those are the problem.
Because dumping tons of fertilizer into a watershed has proven to be super beneficial… for algae anyway. Animals that breathe oxygen, not so much.
Yes thank you firefighters we need your help we’re just going to have another big fire like last year you stop this one quickly it could have got out of hand please be careful
I have had ample cause to be profoundly grateful for the spraying of fire retardant, after 25 years lived here with half a dozen wildfire experiences under my belt. That said, I just read about the problem of massive amounts of rotting sargassum seaweed on Mexican beaches, as a result of agricultural fertilizer runoff. Could the fire retardant create an overproduction of algae in the lakes, I wonder? Water too cold, perhaps?
Clear Lake is naturally eutrophic, meaning it is a natural sink for nutrients and has natural algae cycles. Regardless, an artificial increase of nutrients is generally not good for any ecosystem. I would be surprised if it had no impact on waterways. I don’t know enough about retardants to know if they easily run-off or adhere well to soils.
What’s more of a problem is people’s need for green lawns and chemical fertilizers which run off into storm drains because of poor watering practices. These chemicals degrade slowly and cause blooms in the oceans, mess with coral reefs and in turn fish.
End of fire, good story.
Thank you all firefighters for the great work you do.
Would u rather burn down?! I give much praise to the firefighters!!!!