MENDOCINO CO., 8/2/2026 — At 11:30 Sunday morning, Kerry Beer stood in front of two road closure signs at the head of Feliz Creek Road in Hopland, a few steps west of U.S. Highway 101. Two other roads north of Feliz Creek were also closed to traffic. Beer was hoping his relief would come soon.
“I have to work tomorrow,” he said.
Beer, who works for the county on road crews, had gotten the call at 9 p.m. Saturday night. The Feliz Fire was first reported having burned about 40 acres around 3:40 p.m.
Beer was trying to prevent people from heading towards the blaze, still actively burning.
“It says on social media that there are no evacuations,” he said. “But there are evacuation orders, and they haven’t been lifted.”
Beer said he heard every excuse in the book from people trying to talk their way past the road closed signs.
“I need my heart medication,’” was one, he said. “‘I left my water on and my well’s gonna run dry.’” was another. “People want to bring their animals back home,” he sighed. “The signs don’t say, Road Closed Unless You Have an Excuse. They say, Road Closed.”
The point of the road closures is obvious: firefighters need to fight fires, not worry about people wandering about or getting in their way. And, Beer said, “It’s for people’s own safety. They’re not going to evacuate people twice.”
As we stood talking, a car came off the highway at moderate speed, whipped to the side, and shot past the right-hand sign without even a courtesy brake tap.
“And then there’s that,” Beer said, watching the car take off down Feliz Creek Road.
The moral of this story? Don’t believe what you read on social media unless it’s from an official source, such as the sheriff’s office. Check Cal Fire and Watch Duty, not Facebook, for evacuation information and updates.
Everyone should be prepared in case they need to spend at least 72 hours away from home. Go bags need to include medications, papers, some cash, and other necessities. Pets need their own go bags as well as carriers and leashes.
Prepare now or you imperil not just yourself but firefighters and other workers doing their best to prevent life or property for you and your neighbors.
See this for go-bag suggestions.
Roger Coryell style reporting – not helpful at all! Maybe include some information about how people COULD be better prepared. MendoVoice has become a disaster
Why don’t you search “how to prepare for an unexpected fire” like a capable adult instead of a whiny child?
Apparently we need to have police presence on these closures because, as is usual for Mendo, a certain proportion of the population seem hell-bent on doing whatever they want, regardless of consequences.
Yes, it’s clearly a safety thing, the road being closed. Safety for people going in, there can be falling trees, etc., and it can interfere and affect the safety of firefighters also. Really lame that someone would just sneak in.
and then again, it can be closed 5 miles from the fire & people are just trying get their “go bag”…. We live in fire country, we sometimes know much more than the imported,urban firefighters brought in to close the roads. “Every kind of excuse ”
might include some very good reason, by a local resident, familiar with the situation..
I have known locals who have fought off the fires with a reliable well planed pre fire pump & well water. I hope he let some capable people through.
Wildfire season runs through October, and sometimes into November and December.
So technically there are at least 3 months left of Wildfire season.