Shelters need laundry list of items for Mendocino Complex evacuees

The Mendocino Complex fires grew Tuesday, but at a slower rate than in previous days. 

By Wednesday morning, CalFire estimated the River and Ranch fires at a combined size of more than 90,00 acres with 24 percent containment. 

Both fires started last Friday in Mendocino County, but burned east into Lake County, where they destroyed seven homes and disrupted life for more than 10,000 displaced residents. 

"This is my home and it will always be my home," evacuee Deanne Perdue told KTVU, "but I really don't know how much longer I can live here and how much more we can take."

Perdue is staying at the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks, about 7 miles from her home in Nice.

The Lodge is at capacity, with 300 evacuees, most of them camping outside and enjoying donated meals served throughout the day.

Monday evening's dinner was provided by a local Mexican restaurant. 

The Moose Lodge shelter is community-based and volunteer-run and can use donations of bedding, pillows, towels, plastic serve-wear, paper napkins, tents, flip-flops and breakfast snacks. Clothing is not needed.  The shelter is especially in need of two dozen adjustable cots for disabled and elderly evacuees.”

Perdue, with her 92-year-old father and her cat, fled her home Sunday evening as the Ranch fire raged and an advisory evacuation order became mandatory. 

"Nice is still okay but we had embers, hot embers still burning, and they were falling down on us," she recalled.   

As frustrated as they are to be out of their homes, evacuees are grateful for the support they're receiving, and the hard work of firefighters.

"They don't put the fire out, but they guide it, " said homeowner John Larson, who stayed behind on his property and watched Cal Fire save his two homes. 

"It was pretty hairy, almost like a war zone with planes coming in and dropping the red die, choppers flying all over the place," said Larson.  

The two fires are devouring dry, steep, terrain and sending up huge plumes of smoke that prompted an air quality alert, with particulate levels shifting from "very unhealthy" to "hazardous." 

The smoke was thick and stifling, all the way down to lake level, and air tankers continued to mark the billowing ridges with pink retardant stripes.  

"It's hardly over, we're a long way out from containment," said Cal Fire Captain Amy Head, " and every day it's done it's own thing."

In mostly-deserted Nice, a man on a bicycle watched the smoke and listened to Cal Fire radio transmissions.

Cody Bashore said he sent his family out of the area, but stayed behind to watch out for his home and others.  

"It's sad that we've grown quite used to this in Lake County," said Bashore, "and if it's not one end of the lake it's the other, we never seem to get a break." 

Although Lake County's evacuated towns seem empty, the county's rebel spirit is alive and well. 
"I'm not going to let a little fire in the hills stop me from serving the community, " said Pat Lynch, behind the counter of the Upper Lake market his family has owned since the 1960's.

The Hi-Way Grocery has not closed during the crisis, and Lynch has not left the premises, knowing he won't get back in. 

His stock is getting thin, but he and his wife intend to remain open for the residents who are quietly holed up at home, declining to leave. "People here are not stupid and if the fire is lapping at their heels they will be gone," said Chris, "but in the meantime they will hunker down and ride it out, and if they can protect their homes, they will do it." 

The couple admits, their shoppers must be stealth, slipping into the store without attracting law enforcement attention for being out on a public street.   

"I know the deputies are just doing their job, but they have to realize we're a small community, we stick together, everybody knows everybody," said Pat. 

The close-knit Lake County communities seem to get tighter with every fire- every year- but some are wondering if there's a breaking point. 

"We are a rural county and not a prosperous county," said Dennis Alexander, Governor of the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks, and in charge of the emergency shelter operation. "We are slowly burning up and its really sad."

Deanne Perdue wiped away tears, as much fatigue as emotion. 

"We're tired, we're real tired," she admitted, "but we're Lake County, we're strong people, we are mountain people, and we come together."

At 8 p.m. Tuesday, the 3500 residents of Kelseyville were given the all-clear to return home.
A community meeting will be held Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at Kelseyville High School to provide information to residents.

Cal Fire has said it is short-handed on the two fires, and hopes to bolster the 2,000 firefighters with additional crews soon to arrive.