Ridge Fire holding at 2,629 acres, 25% contained; evacuations remain in effect

Firefighters on Sunday continued to work to contain a wildfire that prompted evacuations and scorched thousands of acres from Lake to Colusa counties, authorities said.

Weather conditions were favorable overnight and helped the 300 fire personnel working in the area to keep the blaze, dubbed the Ridge Fire, to 2,629 acres, Cal Fire spokesperson Jason Clay said. As of Monday morning, the fire, which began Saturday, is 25% contained.

The fire grew by about 129 acres from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.

“The big priority of today is tying in our control lines and fortifying them in areas where they have already been established with the main focus on the north side of fire,” Clay said, referencing the left flank of the fire.

Contingency crews are working in the steep and rugged terrain on that side of the Ridge Fire.

Overnight Saturday, helicopters helped to keep the blaze south of Brim Road ― located just south of the community of Leesville. As of Sunday morning, bulldozers began tearing into the soil to create a line that hopefully prevents the fire from jumping and further spreading.

Crews also performed prescribed burns along Bear Valley Road, which flames were barreling toward Saturday night, to keep the fire west of the roadway.

About 50 structures ― 30 in Lake County and 20 in Colusa County ― are threatened by the active fire, Clay said. About 10 of those are in Wilbur Hot Springs, where firefighters fought hard and created buffer zones to protect the area Saturday night.

As of Sunday, no structures had been destroyed. No injuries had been reported. A cause remains under investigation.

On Saturday, the Ridge Fire, driven by winds, was burning in the area of Walker Ridge Road and Highway 20, in terrain that is largely brush, east of Clearlake Oaks. The fire is on the eastern edge of Lake County pushing into Colusa County.

Highway 20 east of Clearlake Oaks at Highway 53 was closed for a few hours starting Saturday. However, the roadway was reopened just before noon Sunday, according to Caltrans.

Highway 16 from Brooks, Leesville Road at King Road and Leesville-Lodoga Road at Bear Valley Road remained closed due to the fire, according to a Cal Fire incident report .

Six hand crews, 29 fire engines, seven bulldozers, seven fixed-wing aircraft, five helicopters and three water tenders were engaged in the fight Saturday night.

More crews were to be assigned to the area Sunday, but as of 3 p.m. Cal Fire leadership had not issued final numbers for where crews were being stationed, Clay said.

At least three fixed-winged aircraft, including two air tankers, and 13 helicopters were assigned to the site.

The areas of the fire that are contained are mainly along the southwest side of the perimeter, Clay said.

Crews on Sunday focused on expanding containment, putting more energy into controlling the northeast side of the fire while humidity was still high and winds were weaker, around 5 mph with gusts of up to 15 mph.

Temperatures are expected to rise Monday and Tuesday and wind gusts will increase, reaching up to 30 mph on Tuesday and Wednesday, also escalating the risk of the fire spreading.

“If the forecast holds true, those are some good conditions where we can hopefully make some progress on the fire today before we see the higher temperatures Monday or Tuesday,” Clay said.

Sunday was expected to have the best weather conditions out of the next few days for firefighting, said Matthew Kidwell, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Eureka office.

Temperatures on Sunday were still expected to remain in the upper 90s, according to the National Weather Service. They will just increase slightly earlier in the week, when a heat advisory is in effect for the area.

Highs approached 100 on Sunday and could reach 105 to 106 on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, Kidwell said. As temperatures increase, humidity will decrease by about 10% to levels that are typical of a dry summer day.

“It’ll probably dry it out a bit more and then it looks like overnight, Monday night into Tuesday, the (relative humidity) is not going to get very high. So the Ridge Fire will be able to burn longer into the night,” he said.

At 5:05 p.m. Saturday the fire, which appeared to have started in Remington Canyon, according to the aerial incident command, was estimated to be 192 acres.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for the area of Wilbur Hot Springs and also Walker Ridge, and from between the intersection of Bear Valley and Leesville Roads to Highway 20, Clay said.

The Ridge Fire is taking place in an area with “a lot of fire history,” Clay said.

In 2015, the Rocky Fire burned just under 70,000 acres in an area just southwest of the current blaze.

“It's kind of oak woodland, but because of so much history in the area, there's not a lot of trees on the timber side. So it's been a lot of grass, grass and brush,” Clay said, adding that the brush is ready to burn.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay