Pawnee Fire progress, but challenges predicted for weekend

Pawnee Fire off Pawnee Road and New Long Valley Road, northeast of Clearlake Oaks (Lake County), Courtesy CAL Fire via Twitter.

Firefighters on Tuesday made some progress on the lines of the Pawnee Fire in Northern California, but they’ll have their work cut out for them going into the weekend.

The blaze burning in Lake County charred approximately 13,000 acres as of Wednesday morning. While some areas saw fire growth Tuesday — roughly 1,500 additional acres burned, according to estimates — containment jumped to 17 percent by Tuesday night, CAL Fire reported.

“The fire burned very actively throughout the day in the Spring Valley area, north east of Clearlake Oaks in Lake County,” CAL Fire said in a Tuesday evening update. “The fire is being driven by low relative humidity, erratic winds and above normal temperatures. Expanded evacuation orders are in effect for the entire Spring Valley area and residents are reminded to heed all evacuation orders.”

A Fire Weather Watch kicks in Friday morning and will last through the weekend. Forecasters are calling for 20 mph north winds gusting to 35 mph and relative humidity levels as low as 10 percent, per the National Weather Service.

The Pawnee Fire is threatening upward of 600 structures, CAL Fire said.

Twenty-two have been destroyed.

News media on Tuesday accessed some of the areas where homes were destroyed in the days since the fire started Saturday afternoon northwest of Sacramento.

This is our first look at some of the property damage caused by the #PawneeFire. Four homes in a row were lost off Wolf Creek Road. pic.twitter.com/I2nYuQHpnv

— Tom Miller (@KCRAMiller) June 27, 2018

In terms of resources assigned to the Pawnee Fire as of Tuesday night:

• Total Fire Personnel: 2,700
• Total Fire Engines: 235
• Total Fire Crews: 58
• Total Helicopters: 15
• Total Dozers: 69
• Total Water Tenders: 25

As often accompanies disasters, including wildfires that regularly affect Northern California, scammers are at the ready.

“The FBI has received indications that fraudsters are using email and social-networking sites, including job search engines, to facilitate fraudulent activities,” according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office website.