Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., a fire broke out at a home northeast of Garberville near Alderpoint Road and took over several acres in minutes. The blaze became an 80-acre spread by morning. Two structures were lost, which were the homes of a 93-year-old woman and her daughter, who are staying with a relative for the time being.
District 2 Supervisor, Michelle Bushnell, spoke to Redwood News about the fire and its impact.
“The structures that were lost is where the fire did start,” Bushnell said. “That is emotional in itself, especially in such a small community.”
Several agencies responded to the fire, working overnight to bring it to 10% containment by Thursday morning.
“We have volunteer fire departments that responded. We have Briceland, Shelter Cove, Garberville, Redway, Alderpoint, Rio Dell, Cal Fire. They also called in backup from Mendocino County, a hand crew. Cal Fire had five helicopters and five planes on it. They just did a phenomenal job. Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Department, they did the road closure and Sheriff’s Departments did the evacuation. And Red Cross has an evacuation center at South Fork High School.”
A fire like this makes life more difficult when it happens.
“it just displaces community members and heightens anxiety for for folks about their neighbors and their friends and how things play out with such a dramatic event, such as a large fire like this.”
Different instructions in regards to evacuating were given when the fire began to move toward structures, but there’s a reason for this.
“Evacuation orders are now, you have to go now. Be prepared means that you’re upgraded from you could have to go at any time.”
The areas evacuated were between Alderpoint and Wallan Roads, near Meredith Road as well as up the side of Highway 101 north of Alderpoint road.
“The Alderpoint Road is closed, which is a major hub to very many small communities, including Harris, Island Mountain, Blocksburg. And so those folks aren’t able to get up the road as well as all the way up the Alderpoint Road. There are many homes up there and Wallan Road is also a very big residential area, which is also under evacuation and is closed.”
The fire’s forward progress has been stopped.
