Residents Return To Berryessa Estates After Valley Fire Evacuation Order Lifted

Firefighters finally reached 50 percent containment Saturday.

Now that the burned areas are being repopulated, law enforcement is keeping the peace.

Sharon Gattas of the San Bernardino Search and Rescue team with her dog Tosca, search the remains of a home in Anderson Springs for bodies due to the Valley fire, Thursday September 17, 2015.

The drinks business reported on September 16 how the Californian Wine Institute had sought to play down concerns that the wildfires would affect this year’s grape crop with smoke taint. “They are maintaining security and civil order”.

Emergency workers say they are doing all they can to restore needed services and clear debris so people can safely start returning to the disaster zone. “However the canopies were so dense that the underlayment of the turf and the grass was still burning and still containing a lot of heat”.

The Valley Fire is the third this summer to affect the wine industry in Lake County, which is home to 35 wineries and more than 8,700 acres of vineyards.

“We’re looking at hotel rooms in Lake County that will take people long term”, Lake County Director of Social Services Carol Huchingson said. “Damage Inspection Teams continue to gather information in the affected area”. “We’re hoping that with the high temperatures and approximately 15 to 20 mile per hour winds this weekend, that it won’t pose a potential threat or a possible flare up”.

Retired police officer Steve Mooney, right, greets his neighbor Phil Sanders as Mooney patrols his Cobb neighborhood on the lookout for looters not burned by the Valley fire, Thursday September 17, 2015.

To support the return of residents, the road closure at Butts Canyon Road at Aetna Springs Road has opened and is being moved north to Butts Canyon and Snell Valley roads.

Another road closure was placed at the entrance of James Creek Road. Now 585 homes are lost, and almost eight thousand homes are threatened.