Pendola Fire

California's 1999 wildfire season was, at the time, one of the worst on record by acres burned and structures destroyed. Almost burned statewide between the beginning of the year and the official declaration of fire season's closure in Northern California on November 9. Roughly half of the burned acreage was National Forest land, and the remaining area—not quite —was private property or other lands under state firefighting jurisdiction. By October 18, during the Pendola Fire, approximately had burned throughout California. The Pendola Fire burned simultaneously with several other large wildfires in Northern California, including the Big Bar Complex fires in Trinity County and the Jones Fire in Shasta County. A red flag warning was issued for the area of the Pendola Fire for the weekend of its ignition on account of high winds. At 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 16, 1999, the fire lookout at Oregon Peak reported a wind gust of . == Progression ==

The Pendola Fire began at about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 16, north of New Bullards Bar Reservoir in Yuba County. The fire ignited when high winds blew a ponderosa pine down onto a PG&E 12-kilovolt power distribution line on a tract of privately owned land in the community of Camptonville. The fire was originally located near Baker Road and Pendola Extension, for which it was named. By the morning of Monday, October 18, the fire had burned and was 10 percent contained. At 3:00 p.m., residents of Dobbins, Brownsville, and Challenge were able to return home. The fire ultimately burned , of which were National Forest lands. The effects of the fire on Tahoe National Forest land east of Bullards Bar Reservoir were mild, akin to the effects of a prescribed fire. The cost of the firefighting effort came to $4.2 million (equivalent to about $ million in ). The area burned in the Pendola Fire overlapped with the area burned by the destructive Williams Fire in September 1997. == Effects ==

The Pendola Fire destroyed 72 buildings, comprising 13 homes, two commercial buildings, and 57 other structures. Forty-four vehicles were also destroyed, per Forest Service statistics reported by The Union. On October 18 the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District issued an advisory, warning at-risk people to stay indoors because of smoke impacts to air quality. In December 1999 the Tahoe National Forest proposed salvage logging operations in the approximately portion of the forest that had burned in the Pendola Fire. Timber companies eventually extracted 18.5 million board-feet of timber from the area, paying over $2 million (equivalent to about $ million in ) for the right to do so. Approximately $235,000 of the taxed money went towards reforestation. == Litigation and settlements ==

After the fire, the Forest Service alleged that PG&E or its contractors should have inspected the power line and removed the ponderosa pine that fell and caused the Pendola Fire before it did so. PG&E settled with one of the groups of property owners for $800,000, and settled with CHY Co. in 2005 for $1.8 million (equivalent to about $ million in ). There was no litigation; the settlement was reached through mediation. == See also ==