This is the first of an exciting new series of podcasts and companion articles the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council is collaborating on with journalist Sarah Reith. You can read the full story about the Grange Fire below or listen to the podcast by clicking play.

The Grange Fire, which broke out in Boonville on July 25, highlighted some major infrastructure needs in terms of disaster response: namely, power and water. PG&E was knocked out, telecommunications were spotty, and the local radio station, which was in the evacuation zone, went off the air due to damaged equipment.

Anderson Valley Fire Chief Andres Avila said the 90-acre fire was a stark reminder of local vulnerabilities, as wildfires across the state devour hundreds of thousands of acres. The lack of water, he said, “daylights our Achilles heel to larger fires.”

Firefighters turned to a private landowner and exhausted two sources of public water to douse the short-lived blaze. A proposal for a state-funded municipal water system in Boonville, which includes between 40-50 fire hydrants and two 150,000-gallon water tanks, is not scheduled to be online until the end of 2028.

Though CalFire directed human and animal evacuees to the county fairgrounds in Boonville, the power outage made the site mostly unusable as an evacuation center.

Outbuildings on properties in the heart of the fire were lost, and one family lost their home. Agricultural business losses are unknown at this point. No deaths or injuries were reported. The cause is still under investigation, but it may have been ignited by sparks from a vehicle hauling a badly hitched-up trailer.

Avila said the fire broke out during a “drawdown” situation, as CalFire, which has jurisdiction in the area, was initially battling a blaze in Lake County. That left volunteer firefighters on the scene for hours until CalFire was able to provide heavy equipment and aircraft, which lay down retardant lines.

Volunteer fire departments are stretched thin across the state. Avila says they need more of everything: more people, more resources, and an adequate staging ground for the large-scale emergency that’s just about inevitable in rural fire-prone California. He thinks the fairgrounds are a sensible investment, both as an evacuation center and a base camp for the hundreds of firefighters who would descend on the area during a major disaster. “That’s a huge influx,” he noted, adding that, “We’ve been talking about wildfire, but what happens when there’s an earthquake? Are we prepared, as a county, to have this site as staging or for evacuees coming in?”

The Grange Fire was contained by the end of the day, and mop-up operations took another two days. Avila estimates that putting out the 90-acre fire took about 130,000 gallons of water, from the fairgrounds, Hendy Woods State Park, and the privately owned Pennyroyal Farms, which donated water. He said the firefight “basically exhausted our two municipal sources,” one of which is right across the street from the fire station.

The Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show will celebrate its 100th year on September 13-15. Fair CEO Jim Brown estimates that, in a longer-lasting emergency, the fairgrounds, with its large buildings, commercial kitchen, barns, and restrooms with a few showers, could house up to 300 people. “The number thing we would need” to be a viable evacuation site, he said, is four to five generators with switchgears and leads. He’s still waiting for an analysis of the cost and the size of the generators he’d need. The fairgrounds has a backup diesel generator to operate the electric motors for two hydrants, but that infrastructure is only for the fire system. Once the firefighting water was drawn down, there was nothing left for sanitation or cooking.

During the Grange Fire, there was one location that was available for some needs. The Anderson Valley Grange, which has a propane-powered generator, was able to provide bathrooms, battery packs for those with medical needs, and a place for people to rest, charge devices and go online.

Val Hanelt, the chair of the Anderson Valley Community Services District, is looking ahead for a long term solution with the municipal water system. It’s been in the works since 2013, and she says it’s in “a watershed moment” right now, with construction planning expected to be completed next year. Four years ago, the cost estimate for the drinking water portion of the project, which includes the fire suppression component, was $19 million. It would be paid for by state grants, though participants would pay monthly water rates. It’s voluntary, while a state-funded sewer system is compulsory. She shared details about the two 150,000-gallon tanks. If all goes according to plan, they’d be sited on Hutsell Lane, near the intersection of Highways 128 and 253 by the end of the year 2028.

“Those two tanks are kind of critical,” she said, in that they would supply water pressure for a hydrant system that would travel all the way through town, serving the elementary and high schools, the clinic, a housing complex near the airport, the museum, and many of the small streets off of Highway 128, which is the main thoroughfare through the valley. There are about 240 parcels in the area of the proposed water project, which is supposed to go forward, as long as a majority of parcel owners do not object. One supporter is Avila, the fire chief.

”We’ve been doing firefighting in this area without this system for quite a while,” he acknowledged. “We’ve been dodging the bullet. So we either bank on dodging the bullet, which is not a wise idea, or we start planning for the future.”

Firefighters overlooking a structure that was saved. Credit: Angela DeWitt, Battalion Chief, Anderson Valley Fire Department

Mendocino County is currently updating its Community Wildfire Protection Plan. If you support any of the ideas you read about today, you can share your thoughts with the consultants in charge of the update. If you’d like to see the county fairgrounds in Boonville get an upgrade so it can be used as an evacuation center, or you want water security in Anderson Valley, you can request that support for those improvements is included in the updated plan by emailing jayden.peterson@swca.com. Please also share your ideas for important wildfire risk mitigation projects to be included in the plan update by using the form provided here so that we can keep track of and help advocate for your project.

Keep an eye on our website for more information about how to collaborate on updating the plan.