MENDOCINO CO., 8/8/25 — Late in the morning of July 13, an RV caught fire near a private driveway about two miles up Bell Springs Road near the unincorporated community of Laytonville.
“When vehicles burn, especially something like an RV or a trailer…they put out very toxic smoke, and they burn very hot,” explained Bell Springs Fire Department Chief Will Emerson. “This thing was fully engulfed.”
Fortunately, Cal Fire and volunteer firefighters from Laytonville and Leggett arrived quickly and helped suppress the flames. Part of the quick suppression was due to recently completed fuel reduction work along the first five miles of Bell Springs Road.
Just months prior, the area where the RV fire happened had been thick with brush and dry fuels, Emerson said.
“There is no doubt if that material had still been there, it would have burst into flames from the radiant heat and taken off into the trees.” Embers were also flying across the road from the RV into what had been thick brush along a steep dropoff.
“There’s a very good chance that if that brush had still been there, then the fire would have caught in there and then raced up the hill,” Emerson said. “There’s a number of houses up above that, so that could have been very bad.”
Intersecting with U.S. Highway 101, travel on Bell Springs Road is precarious all year round. The narrow, tree-lined route rises about 1,500 feet for the first three miles after turning off the highway. The road climbs the steep sides of a canyon, along the edges of vertical dropoffs before it flattens out along the ridge and the landscape starts to open up.
The Bell Springs Fire Safe Council, which is closely associated with the local fire department, has been concerned about the thick vegetation along that road for months. This spring, the council obtained a Cal Fire grant to thin the first five miles up to 50 feet away from the road.
“The crew that did it, Elk Ridge Tree Service, are all local people, so they really took pride in their work and did a great job,” Emerson said. The council helped by securing permissions from roadside landowners to reduce fuels on their properties.
Don’t count on luck to bail you out
It’s not the first time there has been a vehicle fire on Bell Springs Road. Emerson recalled an instance years ago, when a flatbed truck with a heavy load and mechanical problems tried to climb the steep grade. It got out from under the trees before internal combustion became external, narrowly avoiding disaster.
Luck played a role in that incident, as it did this year as well.
The RV fire struck when there was still some moisture in the ground, during an unusually cool summer, on a day when firefighters didn’t have a lot going on.
But looking at the before and after photos shows how preparation is more important than luck.
Managing vegetation in areas at high risk of fire is one way to reduce the role of chance. And Emerson knows there’s plenty more to do. “All this land is overgrown,” he reflected. “It needs to be thinned and managed. That’s the work ahead.”
There is a benefit for the Bell Springs Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, Aug. 30 at Tan Oak Park in Leggett, starting at 4:00 p.m. There will be food, music, craft beer and cider, and a raffle. First prize, Emerson said, is a cord of wood, cut by a firefighter.
Learn how the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council can help your community apply for funding and organize fire resiliency projects at firesafemendocino.org.
Sarah Reith writes for the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. The Mendocino Voice retains editorial control.