8:54 a.m. PDT Sept. 13, 2021
Multiple homes burned Sunday in the Mendocino County community of Capella Sunday afternoon in Northern California. Capella is on the Redwood Highway between Redwood Valley and Ukiah west of Lake Mendocino.
The fire was reported on the west side of Eastside Cappella Road off Hopkins Street at 2:01 p.m. Sunday. It was pushed by a 20 mph wind while the relative humidity was in the low 20s and ran east to the shore of Lake Mendocino, a distance of about a mile.
Matt LaFever, a reporter for Redheaded Blackbelt, said he saw at least 20 structures in flames. Photographer Kent Porter with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat recorded video of a neighborhood that was destroyed on Eastside Calpella Road.
#HopkinsFire burned quickly involving numerous homes and structures as California’s relentless drought and hot weather have exacerbated fire season. @NorthBayNews pic.twitter.com/BfyBMfiK32
— Kent Porter (@kentphotos) September 13, 2021
Firefighters were able to start getting containment of the fire after it got to Lake Mendocino. The photo below taken Monday at 7:57 a.m. shows a small amount of smoke that had settled near the ground. CAL FIRE reported that the Hopkins Fire burned 257 acres.