The City of Clearlake is pleased to announce a partnership between CAL FIRE, the Lake County Fire Protection District, the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center (CLERC) and various City departments to abate a continuing public nuisance area in the City of Clearlake, resulting in wildfires and illegal dumping over the years.

The initial area of focus is several parcels totaling approximately 31 acres to the east and south of the Walmart shopping center. The City recently entered into a lease agreement with the property owner in order to facilitate a partnership with CAL FIRE for fire mitigation efforts. This week City public works and code enforcement crews have been cleaning the 31-acre property of debris in preparation for a CalFire operation starting on April 6th. CAL FIRE has acquired equipment to be utilized for fire mitigation efforts and will be using the site to conduct equipment operator training from April 6th through April 8th.

On April 6th and 7th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm the City will temporarily close a section of Dam Road in order to protect the public from potential flying debris as a result of the mitigation activity. The section of Dam Road to be impacted will be from south of Jack in the Box to just north of the Dam Road/Lake Street intersection. The community will need to use an alternate route during this temporary closure. In addition, there may be certain areas of the parking lots near Walmart and the other retailers that will be temporarily closed to ensure a safe zone from the mitigation work.

Once the property is cleared of brush and debris, the Clearlake Public Works Department will install concrete K-rail barriers around the area to prevent and deter future dumping and trespassing.

City Manager Alan Flora stated, “This property is one of the several large swaths of undeveloped area within the City boundary that has become overgrown resulting in increased fire danger and attractiveness for illegal activity. Residents of the area have been evacuated due to an active fire threat multiple times over the past few years and so we appreciate all the efforts and partnership of the various agencies, particularly CAL FIRE to address this public nuisance.”