Pawnee Fire in Lake Chars County 11,500 acres, clears 22 structures

Firefighters continued Tuesday to fight a devastating fire in Lake County that destroyed at least 22 structures and burned at least 11,500 acres, according to Cal Fire.

There has been progress in fighting the flames, but not much. Pawnee's fire was contained at 5% Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire.

The fire that broke out Saturday night forced 3,000 residents to leave their homes. This is the last devastating fire to have torn the isolated and impoverished county of only 65,000 people in recent years.

In 2015, a series of fires destroyed 2,000 buildings and killed four people.

The following year, an arsonist set off a fire that destroyed 300 buildings.

Last year, the county was among those ravaged by a series of fires that tore the wine country of Northern California.

"I think we are all so traumatized and overwhelmed by all these fires year after year, this whole community is at a breaking point," said Terri Gonsalves, 55, who evacuated her house around midnight Sunday.

She put four goats in her truck after looking out the back window and saw a big burning hill. She stays with her daughter in the nearby town of Middletown, a small town where dozens of homes were destroyed in 2015. "When that happens, we gather together.

According to the authorities, mandatory evacuation orders in Lake County are in effect in and around the Spring Valley community. The Lake County Sheriff's Service posts detailed and up-to-date evacuation orders on its website.

An evacuation center has been set up at Lower Lake High School at 9430 Lake Street in Lower Lake, officials said. An assembly area for evacuees was established at the Social Services Center located at 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway in Lower Lake.

Governor Jerry Brown said Monday the state of emergency in Lake County, where the fire was raging about 120 miles north of San Francisco, a rural area particularly hard hit by fires during in recent years. The statement will allow officials to receive more resources from the state to fight the fire and recover.

Jim Steele, an elected supervisor, said the county is depleted and its fire fighting equipment outdated. He also said that the county has just a few roads in and out of the area, which can hinder the response time. Steele said the area has also been fire-sensitive for many decades due to the presence of scrub and trees in the sparsely populated area, but the severity of the latest flames is unexpected.

"What has happened with the warmer climate is that we get low humidity and stronger winds, and then when we get a fire that is worse than in those 50 years," Steele said.

Fire Fighter Chief Jonathan Cox said more than 230 firefighters were battling Lake County fire in a hilly area that made it difficult to refuel the equipment.

A forestry researcher says that it is difficult to predict the severity of California's wildfires this year, but that the vegetation dried throughout the state is a bad omen.

"You have a lot of grass and it's dry and it's worrying," said Keith Gilless, the Dean of the University of California, Department of Environmental Sciences. from Berkeley.