Fire forces Concow evacuation orders
Flare up at Bucks Lake brings smoke in Butte County
CONCOW » The Butte County Sheriff’s Office issued an immediate evacuation order for the areas of Pulga, Concow, Big Bend, and YankeeHill due to fire on Sunday night. The order comes after Cal Fire-Butte County said Sunday night that a flare-up in the Bucks Lake area of the North Complex Fire was a concern to them.
Winds overnight Sunday into today in that area were expected to have gusts up to 35 MPH.
Residents are urged to the PublicMapontheBCSOwebsite, www. buttecounty.net/sheriff for further information or call 833-512-5378.
The order came after firefighters continued to strengthen fire lines in the North Complex West Zone on Sunday with heavy wind events in the forecast overnight Sunday. The fire had not grown Sunday for the second consecutive day as the North Complex West Zone fire was at 85,595 acres, which Cal Fire reported Sunday afternoon. Firefighters increased containment Sunday as the fire at that time was 85% contained.
Cal Fire was also able to announce the final structure damaged/destroyed numbers since the North Complex West Zone fire began Aug. 17. There have been 2,342 structures destroyed and 113 damaged. Cal Fire meteorologist Kari Fleegel said that a red flag warning will remain in place through 9 p.m. tonight with a wind advisory inplace until 7 p.m. tonight.
Fleegel added that winds tonight will be between 15 and 25 out of the northeast with gusts up to 30 miles an hour. She said that the temperature rose on the line of the fire on Sunday, while humidity continued to drop. Fleegle expects a traditional wind pattern to return to Butte County later this week.
Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Monty Smith spoke to Butte County residents about the smoky skies in the area. Smith said the smoke is from a flare up in the Bucks Lake area of the North Complex fire, and that Cal Fire firefighters are keeping an eye on.
Smith updated all of the fire lines saying that it all looks good as they head into the evening hours.
Butte County Sheriff’s Office updates
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea announced the search for remains is complete, searching 1,500 structures with no more remains found. He said all 192 people that were thought to bemissing have been found.
He added that there were no new arrests this weekend, but said they’re still looking for Robert Strawn, 36, who is wanted on a looting charge. Honea said deputies visited Strawn property and 242 illegal marijuana plants were found along unsafe electrical lines that were a fire hazard. . Honea urged Strawn to surrender himself. In the meantime PG& E has disconnected the lines.
The Sheriff also said the Sheriff’s office will soon be able to relieve evacuation warnings and orders, but he stressed that the people need to be ready to leave with tonight’s wind events.
Evacuee information and law enforcement escort
Residents displaced by the North Complex Fire are being directed to the assistance center at Feather River Parks and Recreation Gymnastics Academy, 1875 Feather River Blvd., as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency center at 2000 Feather River Blvd. in Oroville.
The hours of both centers are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The centers are closed Sundays.
FEMA registration will close Oct. 21 at the center.
A complete map of evacuation orders and warnings can be found at www.buttecounty.net/sheriff.
Similar to that of the Camp Fire, the Butte County Sheriff Office has created an online form enabling residents to request law enforcement escorts to areas that remain under evacuation orders.
The link to submit a request is https://forms.gle/ QKrkdVwk78qR344t9.
The fire information call centerwill be accepting calls for escort requests as well and can be reached at 5523010. While the call center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, the Sheriff’s Office is encouraging the public tomake requests online due to high call volumes anticipated.
Therewas a public safety power shut- off in Butte County which began between midnight and 4 a.m. on Sunday. Power was expected to be restored between 8 p.m. Sunday and midnight today, PG&E communications confirmed. For concerned citizens who believe they may be in outage zones, a map can be seen at https://pgealerts. alerts. pge. com/outages/ map/?type=forecasted.
“The first de-energization phase will begin early Sunday morning and impact approximately 15,000 customers. The second phase is expected to begin Sunday afternoon and will impact approximately 74,000 customers,” PG& E said in a press release. “This (public safety power shut- off) event is based on forecasts of widespread, severely dry conditions and strong, gusty winds.”