LUCERNE, Calif. – A late-night wildland fire burned up a hillside, resulted in evacuations and a power outage, and closed a portion of Highway 20.
The fire was reported at around 12 a.m. Monday in the area of Highway 20 east of Rosemont Drive, according to reports from the scene.
Sheriff's deputies and fire units arriving at the fire's location reported that it was quickly burning up dry grass and brush and making a run up a steep hillside.
Initial size reports put the fire at half an acre, with Northshore Fire requesting additional help from Cal Fire, other fire districts around the Lake and the US Forest Service, based on scanner reports.
Deputies were requested to help with traffic control, as the westbound lane of Highway 20 was blocked with emergency vehicles, incident command said.
With the fire making a run at homes on Panoramic Drive, deputies began helping with evacuating homes.
Just before 1 a.m. deputies went door to door, using a loudspeaker to call to residents to immediately leave the area.
A short time later the fire was estimated to be as large as 40 acres, according to radio reports.
A Lake County News reporter on scene said the fire appeared to be throwing out small sport fires.
As many as 15 homes were said to have been evacuated, with an estimated 20 evacuees gathering at Lucerne Harbor Park, reports indicated.
Incident command reported that forward progress on the fire was stopped shortly after 2 a.m.
However, shortly after 2:20 a.m. a spot fire that came off of the main fire made a run, and a unit that had just cleared the scene had to be recalled to help work on it, according to scanner traffic.
Firefighters reported that power lines were down in the fire area.
Pacific Gas and Electric reported that power to a large area was knocked out at about 1:30 a.m., but as of 2 a.m. hadn't specifically attributed the outage to the fire.
The impacted area was south of Lucerne from Pepperwood Cove to Glenhaven, and stretching across the lake into the Buckingham Park area and parts of Soda Bay Road, with 1,751 customers affected, PG&E said.
As of 5 a.m., all but 314 customers had their power restored, with the remainder expected to have their power back on by 5:45 a.m., PG&E said.
The California Highway Patrol said that Highway 20 between Rosemont and Bruner in the Lucerne area was closed for an extended period of time beginning at around 1:20 a.m. due to the wildland fire.
Fire units were continuing their work on scene at 5 a.m., at which time the highway remained closed.
However, CHP was working with incident command to get the eastbound lane of the highway reopened, with the westbound lane to remain closed temporarily while firefighters continued to work at the scene.
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Late night Lucerne fire burns wildland, prompts evacuations
- Elizabeth Larson
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