Rocky Fire: Evacuations lifted as containment grows

Though firefighters still were working in “hot and dry, not ideal conditions”, cooler temperatures and increased relative humidity were helping them make gains, he said.

On July 30, a firefighter was killed by a wildfire in Northern California as he scouted the area and became trapped by the wind-stoked blaze, officials said Saturday. Otherwise, it was a flurry of excitement in a day spent grinding around the stubborn Rocky Fire, bringing it a few percentage points closer to death.

CLEAR LAKE | The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce is asking the public’s help raising money for the fire-stricken community of Clearlake, California.

A firefighter monitors flames from the Rocky Fire as it approaches a home late last month. The wildfire 100 miles north of San Francisco has destroyed 43 residences, 53 outbuildings and eight other structures. Despite the reopening of Highway 36, fire officials are asking motorist to drive with extra caution through the Payne Creek area because of the presence of fire personnel and equipment trying to get full containment of the fire.

“We’re definitely at a medium to high level of activity, but we’re not at extreme, where we are low on resources by any means”, he said.

But the lessons learned from the summer of 1988, when fires burned almost one third of Yellowstone National Park, continue to shape the way wildfires raging across the West are being fought today.

The cause of the fire, burning in rugged terrain in Lake, Yolo and Colusa counties, is under investigation.

In Central California, a wildfire that consumed nine square miles of the Sequoia National Forest was almost contained.

“The fire’s cold”, fire spokesman Dominic Polito said.

Woodbridge firefighters were assigned to the Wragg and Rocky fires and were on the list to be head home as of Thursday afternoon.

Four years of drought coupled with record heat is stressing these trees and shrubs.