UPDATE: 10:30 a.m. — The Brooktrails Township Fire Department said in a Facebook post at 5:33 a.m. that the fire apeared to be three to five acres in size and threatening structures when emergency crews arrived on scene.
“Swift action by responding units kept the fire away from the structures and contained the fire in quick order,” firefighters said.
Brooktrails Fire also thanked Little Lake Fire, Ridgewood Ranch Fire, Laytonville Fire, Cal Fire, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the Willits Police Department for their assistance responding to the incident.
MENDOCINO Co., 8/18/21 — Forward progress has been stopped on the Timber Fire, a vegetation fire located at the 31000 block off Sherwood Road and Timber Road past the Third Gate portion of Brooktrails in the Willits area. Evacuation orders have been reduced to warnings, which were called off at 5:15 a.m., but traffic may be restricted on Timber Road and on Sherwood Road at Third Gate while fire crews respond to the fire.
Initial scanner reports indicate that at least one structure may have been damaged.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office sent several Nixle alerts during the course of the fire which can be found here. Deputies went door to door during the evacuations and also used the high-low siren to alert residents.
This is a developing situation and information may change. We’ll update this article as more information becomes available. The most recent information will be updated at the top of the article, with the earlier reports below.
Why did the Mendocino County Emergency Alert System wake us at 4:50am with a fire warning for a small event happening 30 miles away? I appreciate having an emergency alert system but using it for an incident like this creates doubt when there’s a real emergency for ALL people notified. I hope this point does not disappear without some public discussion by the County.
Ya I got an alert early this morning, and I live SIXTY miles away in Sonoma County!
Thank you for your help and support! Bless you all!
I received one at 4:30 also a big loud bleeping phone siren and I live way over in Anderson Valley I did know somebody that lived in Brook trails and I notified them though so I guess it’s helpful. Better too much warning than not enough. And way to go on handling that fire. Now that’s how it’s supposed to be done right?
Yup! Notify folks so that if you know someone in an affected area you can aid in notification and try and keep people safe. I don’t mind a 0400 wake up if it saves a life…thanks to everyone on scene!