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Clover Fire Updates: 80 Homes/Outbuildings Destroyed; Threat to Structures Climbs to 500

Firefighters continue to fight the Clover Fire, which has destroyed more than 80 structures. Photo by Armando Mejorado.

Evening UPDATE:

Here’s the latest from CalFire:

The Clover Fire continues to move in a southwest direction and has potential to grow due to north winds and low humidity recovery.

Structures in the area continue to be threatened and evacuations are in effect. Transmission and distribution power lines are at continued risk.

The Clover Fire has burned about 6,795 acres, and is 40 percent contained. Five hundred structures are threatened, up from the 350 reported earlier today. Conservative estimates report 80 structures destroyed and 30 damaged.

Some evacuations remain in place in the following areas:

*Clear Creek Road and Cloverdale Road

*Everything southwest to Gas Point Road and Small Farms and Marsha Way

*Gas Point Road and Happy Valley Road

*Small Farms Track south to Black Pine Road

*Cloverdale from Clear Creek to Oak

*Oak to Palm

The fire’s cause remains under investigation.

The cooperating agencies include: The US Forest Service,  City of Redding, Anderson Fire Protection District, Burney Fire Protection District, Cottonwood Fire Protection District, Happy Valley Fire Protection District, Shasta County Sheriffs Dept., and CHP.

Total fire personnel: 1,346

Total fire engines: 146

Total fire crews: 39

Total air tankers: 5

Total helicopters: 7

Total dozers: 25

Total water tenders: 24

Incident management team: CAL FIRE Incident Command Team #5 took command at 3 pm.

Regarding the Red Cross evacuation center in Cottonwood, CalFire has requested that the center move to the Igo Community Church on Placer Road in Igo.

Click here to see Photo Café photographer Armando Mejorado’s first-hand report and photos.

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3 p.m. UPDATE: Yesterday, with CalFire’s permission, PG&E cut the power to about 2,000 homes in the Clover Fire’s potential danger zone, said Paul Moreno, PG&E north valley district spokesman. Moreno said that during the night, as firefighters gained the upper hand on the Clover Fire with about a 40 percent containment, PG&E was able restore power to many of those customers.

He said that the remaining 360 or so customers who are still without power are primarily located in the most active fire areas in the Igo and Happy Valley regions. Some are areas where homes have been destroyed.

Sometimes downed trees that fall onto power lines cause outages during fires. But sometimes, as was done yesterday, PG&E performs deliberate “de-energizing” for firefighters’ safety.

This rationale was illustrated over emergency scanners late yesterday afternoon as firefighters reported live, downed electrical lines and poles blocking access to roads. In at least one case, the lines were across vehicles.  Turning off the power allows firefighters to proceed on those roads without danger of electrocution.

Moreno said that the process of turning off power to a large area is much easier – literally done almost with a flip of one switch – while restoring power to small areas as needed is much more time-consuming.

He said PG&E crews are doing their best to return power to as many customers as soon as possible.  As of this update, Moreno’s Twitter message announced that 60 customers in the Igo area had power restored as PG&E crews gained access to the north part of the Clover Fire burned areas. He said 210 customers remain without power.

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10 a.m. UPDATE: As the smoke clears along areas burned by the Clover Fire, many people have asked for the status of Bella Vista Farms, an animal sanctuary off Lower Gas Point Road between Cottonwood and Igo.

Carla Jackson’s Facebook reply to Troy Hawkins, who asked about the farm, provided Jackson’s first-hand information: “Troy, I was at BV Farms all afternoon. The fire was very close (less than a mile away) but the wind was in our favor. The awesome efforts of the helicopter pilots who dumped buckets of water relentlessly on the ridge above us for several hours certainly kept Bella Vista Farms safe. I left at 8 p.m. and things had settled down quite a bit. The fire engine and three firefighters spending night in the driveway is giving us real peace of mind.”

The Clover Fire in the Clover Road area yesterday. Photo by KRCR News.

In other fire-related news, a City of Redding press release has this to say the West Central Landfill on Clear Creek Road:

West Central Landfill closed again to the public

The West Central Landfill on Clear Creek Road will be closed to the public today. (Tuesday, September 10,2013) as crews continue to work to control the Clover Fire that started in the area on Monday. City of Redding Solid Waste crews will be able to utilize the landfill; however, it is closed to the public today out of precaution, according to City Municipal Utilities Manager Paul Clemens.

Fire crews continue to frequent the area to fight the Clover Fire that had burned more than 7,000 acres as of this morning. The City’s Transfer Station at 2255 Abernathy Road remains open at this time. Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In addition, a privately operated landfill is open to the public at 18703 Cambridge Road, west of Anderson.

For information about the City of Redding Solid Waste operations, call 224-6201.

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7 a.m. UPDATE: More than 1,000 firefighters from 36 crews with 107 engines worked through the night to stop the forward spread of Clover Fire and have achieved a 40-percent containment, said Mike Witesman, CalFire information officer.

He said the fire, about 12 miles south-west of Redding, has burned more than 7,400 acres.

Witesmans said the Clover Fire has destroyed or damaged about 30 structures, which includes homes, barns, sheds and other out buildings. He said more than 300 homes remain threatened.

However, there does seem to be some discrepancy regarding the number of structures damaged or destroyed, as the CalFire website reports 80 structures destroyed and 30 damaged.

“Today we hope for no increase in the fire,” Witesman said. “Our biggest concern is that we have similar weather conditions today as yesterday, and we want to avoid any new fires.”

He said that reported injuries, primarily smoke inhalation,  include three firefighters and one civilian.

Today’s forecast of triple-digit, dry temperatures will make fire-suppression efforts a challenge, Witesman said, although yesterday’s gusty winds are not expected today, which should be in the 5 to 10-mile-an-hour range.

According to the CalFire update information this morning, the Clover Fire continues to move in a southwest direction and has potential to grow due to north winds and low humidity recovery. Structures in the area continue to be threatened and evacuations are in effect. Transmission and distribution power lines are at continued risk and the Clear Creek Water District Pump Station was damaged.

Current fire resources include efforts of the City of Redding, Anderson Fire Protection, Burney Fire Protection District, Cottonwood Fire Protection District, Happy Valley Fire Protection, Shasta County Sheriff and California Highway Patrol. Combined, this includes 1,229 fire personnel, 107 engines, 36 fire crews, six air tankers, seven dozers and 18 water tenders.

Click here for current road closures and evacuations.

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As of 8 p.m., the Clover Fire has burned nearly 7,000 acres of land, including more than 20 structures in the Igo Happy Valley area, said Lori Mathiesen, a CalFire information officer, who spoke with anewscafe.com shortly after 9 p.m. She said the fire is 5 percent contained and continues to burn in a south-west direction.

Mathiesen could not say how many of the 20 structures were homes. However, she did say that approximately 300 residents and about 50 out buildings were currently being threatened.

What began as a vegetation fire at about 12:30 p.m. today consumed about 1,500 acres within a few hours.

 

A reverse 911 call was issued to the affected areas.

According to CalFire, resources include more than 340 personnel, 32 engines, 10 helicopters, 5 dozers 6 tankers, 8 hand crews 15 air attack, 9 water tenders and 25 over head resources. Current hard closures are at the following locations: Clear Creek at 273, Olinda Rd. atW. Anderson, Placer at Swasey, Gas Point at Happy Valley, Canyon at 273, Platina at Grange Hall, Cloverdale Rd, Clear Creek, Gas Point, Placer to Palm Ave Honeybee to Platina Rd, Platina to Black Pine and Happy Valley School.

Evacuations include Clear Creek and Cloverdale, everything south/west to Gas Point and Small Farms and Marsha Way; Small Farms to Black Pine Rd, Cloverdale from Clear Creek to Oak and Oak to Palm. The current Cottonwood evacuation center is at First Street and Brush Street. The updated number of burned structures is unconfirmed at this time.

We invite readers to submit verified or first-hand information or updates here in the comments sections.  You may also send photos via email to doing.anewscafe@gmail.com. Please include your name and your location.

Doni Chamberlain

Independent online journalist Doni Chamberlain founded A News Cafe in 2007 with her son, Joe Domke. Chamberlain holds a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from CSU, Chico. She's an award-winning newspaper opinion columnist, feature and food writer recognized by the Associated Press, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and E.W. Scripps. She's been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Slate. Bloomberg News and on CNN, KQED and KPFA. She lives in Redding, California.

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