Remembering the Cow Mountain Fire of 1981
Arson fire burned 25,534 acres, took out TV service for a month
Californians live with fire danger each summer, and sometimes far into the months of autumn. We understand the risks (at least some of them), we have “to-go” bags packed in case we need to flee our homes with only minutes notice, and many of us sleep with cell phones nearby in case the sheriff’s office or police department put out a Nixle emergency alert in the middle of the night.
The last thing any of us needs is for someone to be intentionally setting fires, and though I know arsonists are sometimes mentally ill, others apparently set fires for financial gain, revenge or an urge to commit vandalism, among other seedy motives. I don’t come close to understanding their thinking.
On a 107-degree Ukiah mid-afternoon, as we had Wednesday (Aug. 11, 2021), who would intentionally start a fire in a dry creek bed? According to the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, that’s where Wednesday’s Highway Fire started, and it certainly wasn’t a warming fire, and in that kind of heat probably not a cooking fire either. The UVFA has already determined it was human-caused, and is suspected of being arson. Numerous local residents had to be evacuated from their homes, as the flames sped toward inhabited areas on a windy afternoon.
Arson is nothing new to our community, although to much of the populace it is a particularly frustrating type of crime.
Forty years ago this week, on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 8, 1981, an alleged arsonist set a fire on Cow Mountain about six miles east of Ukiah. The wildfire burned east to within a mile of Lakeport; it also took out television service in the Ukiah Valley for more than a month.
According to the Ukiah Daily Journal’s Monday, Aug. 10, 1981 edition, the fire began in Mill Creek Canyon. By the time that Aug. 10 edition was written Monday morning, the Cow Mountain Fire had grown to 18,000 acres and was burning out of control, with only 5 percent of the fire contained, and “none of it controlled.”
After it ignited Saturday afternoon, the fire began a steady march east toward Lake County. Had the winds been different, and had Ukiah not benefited from heroic work by air tanker pilots like Doug Baker, who flew an estimated 21 missions in six hours before nightfall that first day, it could easily have swept west, burning much of the Ukiah Valley. As it was, the fire burned to within a mile of Lakeport that weekend.
The Ukiah Daily Journal reported that “Flames continued to shoot skyward Sunday as they left the charred surface of Cow Mountain behind and marched toward Lakeport. California Division of Forestry personnel could only hope their bulldozers and air tankers would be able to control the spread of the fire, which consumed 18,000 acres as of this morning.” (Aug. 10, 1981 UDJ).
The newspaper reported that 700 CDF personnel and local fire crews were fighting the fire in punishing heat.
The Associated Press covered the Cow Mountain Fire, and its story was widely published around the country on Aug. 10, 1981, including by the New York Times.
The following paragraph is from the AP story, and apparently at the time it was written 450 firefighters were battling the blaze, in 110-degree heat.
“In California, about 450 firefighters sweltering in 110-degree heat were battling the Mendocino County blaze. That
fire had spread to Lake County. Officials said the fire, which began about 6 miles east of Ukiah, was set on Saturday by an arsonist.” (Associated Press, Aug. 10, 1981.)
By the next day, (Aug. 11, 1981) the Ukiah Daily Journal was reporting that the Cow Mountain Fire had grown to 25,300 acres and had burned to within a half-mile of Lakeport. The good news was that by then the California Department of Forestry could report that the fire was 75 percent contained and 50 percent controlled.
By the time Thursday’s edition came out (Aug. 13, 1981) the UDJ was able to assure the community that “fire officials report that the 25,534-acre Cow Mountain Recreation Area fire is totally under control.”
The newspaper went on to say that “the fire caused an estimated $1.5 million worth of damage to 20-30 structures, including four homes.”
There were no reports of injuries from the fire (or of an arson arrest in editions through the end of August), but, in a sort of quirky Ukiah way, that Thursday edition also included a front-page photo of a group of Hare Krishnas staging an impromptu parade down State Street on the first night of the Cow Mountain fire, when smoke covered the community.
The caption reads, “While fire ravaged Cow Mountain, these Hare Krishnas paraded down State Street last Saturday evening. As smoke filled the sky, they chanted, danced and sang in a scene befitting a modern, urban version of ‘Apocalypse Now.'” (If a reproduceable copy of that image is found, we’ll reprint it in a future edition.)
On Friday of that week, (Aug. 14, 1981) the local area’s representative in Congress, Congressman Don Clausen (R-crescent City) arrived in Ukiah to meet with officials from the Bureau of Land Management, CDF and local government, including three Mendocino County supervisors.
In a Sunday, Aug. 16, 1981 report on Clausen’s visit, the Ukiah Daily Journal reported that air tanker “pilot Doug Baker was the first one to respond to the fire Saturday, August 8, at about 2 p.m.
“According to Baker — present at the briefing — the fire was just starting when he dumped his first load and returned to the airport. By the time he flew back to the Cow Mountain Fire, within a half an hour, it was already sweeping up the ridge and spotting several other hillsides.”
John Dutcher, natural resources manager for BLM, “explained that the tankers were used to try and prevent the spread of the fire by dumping their 800 gallon loads of fire retardant on the surrounding hillsides as quickly as possible.
“Baker added that he and his partner Billy Hoskins — flying the only available air tankers — flew as many runs as they could in the 116-degree heat before darkness rendered conditions unsafe. He estimated that he flew a total of 21 missions in about six hours.
“The number of available fire bombers is a key factor in controlling fires, according to Dutcher. He told Clausen that Ukiah has had two air tankers stationed here since 1960, with larger four-engined fire bombers responding from Napa and Redding.”
In addition to the 25,534 acres burned in the Cow Mountain Recreation Area Fire, the blaze also destroyed the Cow Mountain transmitter of the Television Improvement Association, disrupting television service to 12,000 local households.
Two weeks later, only one channel had been restored, and the community was definitely on edge.
“It’s not the best, but it’s something to look at,” TIA chairman Al Pilegaard said in the Aug. 24, 1981 edition of the Ukiah Daily Journal.
“We’ve gotten hundreds of calls,” Pilegaard said.
“Tell the people to be patient.”
Americans are not known as especially patient people, and since full repairs were expected to take another month, some were looking around for other things to do.
“I must have read nearly all the books in the library,” said Bob Schwartz, who was anxiously awaiting television reception.
One librarian welcomed the outage, saying “I think it’s the best thing to happen. Now people know there are other ways to entertain themselves besides watching that stupid tube. More attention can be focused on the family now. I think fathers especially are looking around to see they have a family,” she said.
Others turned to Teleprompter Cable, which reported being “overloaded with new subscribers.”
“We’re swamped. I can’t give you an accurate figure, but we’re busier than we’ve ever been,” one local Teleprompter employee said.