A Walk Through the Cache Fire Which Displaced Hundreds of People in Lake County Yesterday
Yesterday, a terrifying fire ripped through the outskirts of Clearlake and Lower Lake. Residents fled through flames as their homes burned. Multiple evacuation orders and warnings piled on top of each other. Parents frantically tried to pick up children at nearby schools while staff tried to load the students into buses.
An elderly woman received serious burns and multiple pets and livestock were injured and displaced. About 60 homes turned to ash in just a few hours. Many of those homes belonged to seniors and low income residents of two mobile home parks–Cache Creek Mobile Home Estates and Creekside Mobile Home Park. The fire flattened the area leaving smoldering trees and burned vehicles.
Our photographer, Mark McKenna, walked the hardest hit area as flames still rose from scattered hot spots and helicopters roared overhead, dropping huge buckets of water.
Below is what he saw.
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![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202000%201333'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
- Smoke lay heavy on the area as a battered sign marked the entrance to one of the destroyed mobile home parks.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4185-noresize.jpg)
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- The Creekside Mobile Home Park on Dam Road in Clearlake appeared to be completely destroyed during the Cache Fire on Wednesday. Flames still glowed inside one of the structures as our photographer, Mark McKenna, picked his way through the ashes of people’s possessions trying to capture the extent of the devastation.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4328-noresize.jpg)
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- The fast moving flames left buildings and vehicles crumpled side by side.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4158-noresize.jpg)
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- A burned power pole hung in front of homes destroyed by the Cache Fire on Dam Road in Clearlake.
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- Like some bizarre modern art piece, charred pieces of power poles framed a destroyed structure.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4048-noresize.jpg)
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- The grey white skeleton of what was once a large and beautiful tree provided contrast to the charred black power poles in front of it.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4021-noresize.jpg)
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- Teams of firefighters poured into the area to stop the spread of the fire. These were from the Tam Crew of Marin County Fire.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4662-noresize.jpg)
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- A helicopter dropped water while fire crews battled a spot fire near Lower Lake Elementary not long after children were evacuated from its classrooms.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4369-noresize.jpg)
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![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202000%201335'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
- Soon afterwards a plane dropped pink retardant on flames as crews battled the fire on the ground.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_5600-noresize.jpg)
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- As our photographer walked down Dam Road in Clearlake, dead vehicles, some still cupping flaming belongings left behind by fleeing residents, lined each side.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4104-noresize.jpg)
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- The buildings disappeared into heaps of ash punctuated by the metal husks of vehicles.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4246-noresize.jpg)
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- Flames danced in the rubble of people’s homes.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4143-noresize.jpg)
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- Like the Creekside Mobile Home Park, the Cache Creek Mobile Home Estates on Dam Road in Clearlake appeared to be almost completely destroyed.
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4344-noresize.jpg)
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- Even before the flames had completely died, crews were working to return the small community to life. Here they remove a large branch that fell across Dam Road. May those who lost so much, find more people willing to pitch in and help them clean up and rebuild the paths of their lives…
![Cache Fire in Lake County [Photo by Mark McKenna]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KYM.CACHE_.FIRE_.CLEARLAKE.DSC_4239-noresize.jpg)
Earlier:
- Immediate Threat to Several Hundred Structures, Evacuations Underway in Lower Lake as Fire Burns Near Dam Road and Highway 53
- Hundreds of Residents Fled Their Homes as the Cache Fire in Lake County Spread Devastation in Its Wake
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Wow…so sad. Thank you for all you do to keep our community informed, day and night, Kym.
Lower Lake has had more than its share of disaster…
Thanks to Ms Kemp, and RHBB for being the first and best source of fire information in Lake County…
I’m a lake county resident. I usually get all my local news from RHBB! Funny a news site from another county has better news coverage than “Lake County News”, Thank you Ms Kemp!!
This story and so many others is the reason I make a small donation to RHBB every month. Thank you Kym and team.
Thank you. Those monthly donations from everyone are how I decide how much I can pay out to free lancers! What you donate brings in more content for everyone to read. Mark McKenna is paid out of those funds.
Hi Kym, may I ask why RHBB never filed to become a public benefit or tax exempt organization (501c3), i.e. KQED, since the public does benefit from your coverage of news reporting, e.g. Media, Communications Organization, Arts, Culture and Humanities?
Ed, I’m a for profit. (Honestly, one more piece of paperwork and I’m going to crack!)
Thanks, good to know, just thought I would ask, I would support something like that, public information and investigation reporting is everything, Thank you for all you do at large and small.
I just donated a tiny bit once again (I’m poor). This coverage is so important. Yesterday there were homes and wi/ a few hours there was nothing. It is tragic. And RHBB covers it.
Thank you!
Thank you for the explanation of how the donations help.
I appreciate the videos and photos. The hard ones and the feel good ones.
Definitely need both💗
You’re well worth it. I wish I could donate more every month. Thank you for all you do!
I’m so sorry for all the loss in the fire.
Heartbreaking.
I don’t have much but I have more than these folks impacted by the fire. Where is a SAFE place to send donations for them?
Check the bottom of this…https://kymkemp.com/2021/08/19/a-lake-county-restaurants-staff-pull-together-to-feed-those-affected-by-yesterdays-cache-fire/
Oh my. Tragic. These folks. So many under or not insured at all. Lifetimes lost. Agreed Lower Lake has had so many stuggles. Prayers of hope to you all.
Very sad to see all of the destruction. But I must ad, I am very impressed by the education and artistry of the author. Kym Kemp, you outshine most of your fellow reporters with your knowledge of our English language,
and your use thereof. Stellar!
Very kind! Thank you.
A very tragic sight to see all the homes, cars, etc., burned to the ground. I hope with all my heart that everyone was able to escape the fire. I pray the two young boys that were not mobile where driven to safety by the CHP that was checking on them. I can only imagine the fear the people faced as they tried to escape that monster. I pray the woman that was burned will make a complete recovery from her wounds. God bless all the brave firefighters for doing their very best to kill that monster. May God bless everyone and give them the love and strength to move forward to rebuild their lives.
Yes its tragic for these people. But I hear so few care for the countless lives lost in the forest. We seem to care more about cars and possessions than other lives sometimes.
Far more than just trees are being killed right now.
Critters can run and those that can’t get replaced to the degree that the environment can support them. When the few worldly possessions of folks living on the margins are lost, including the only shelter they can afford, they’re gone forever.
Parma, Amen to your comment.
This website makes me suicidal. Destroyed lives for profit.
You are suggesting we only show photos of puppies and unicorns…?
Do you really think Kym’s eyes were flashing dollar signs when she was reporting on this thing?
Lake Concow Campground is open to evacuees and fire personnel only.
From the owners:
Greetings from Lake Konkow. We are sorry to have to announce that we cannot reopen right now due to safety issues related to fire. As we all know, an active fire can shift and move swiftly if the wind changes, plus the smoke here is horrible so we cannot safely be open to the public. We do, however, have caretakers onsite, we have generators for backup power and water, so if you or someone you know is an evacuee with no better options, you are welcome to camp with us free of charge. We can’t be open for business right now, but we are always open to help. Please spread the word and stay safe!!
Thank you!
Thanks so much for all your hard work and well informed constant updates Kym!!
💪🤠🤙
And Mark, thank you for putting yourself in harms way to bring us these pics. Without them I feel people wouldn’t be understanding the true destruction and help and resources needed.
My friend is a teacher there. I reached out to her when I heard about this fire. She described helping to evacuate crying children and the heavy smoke, approaching flames, traffic jams and general shock and terror. She is safe now, but this is seemingly a yearly occurance in Lake county.
Send her a hug from me. The thought of what teachers and parents were going through make me cry yesterday.
We were cat fishing cache Creek few months back. The army corps used to dredge it and rip all that dead stuff out.
While fishing I recall it being said, this place is primed for a burn as we slow rolled down cache Creek past all the dead piles of fallen trees.
AAA cat fishing spot – cache Creek campground. 🎣
I’m praying for all of you folks. I live in Virginia but my Nephew live in Myers Flat . LYN, I love this site . I can get all the info about what’s happening on your neck of the woods . I would love to donate to help you out. Let me know how to do this . Once again thank you and god bless all you folks out there.
Mike, thank you!
Below is a picture showing where the donate button is on a computer. On a phone or tablet the one under the photo is in the same place, but the second one is at the end of all the stories and above the links in red.
Or anyone can send a check or money order to
RHBB
PO BOX 182
Phillipsville, CA 95559