Cooley Blaze Still Burning After Control Fire Spread Beyond Planned Area

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Firefighters are still battling the Cooley Fire days after a prescribed burn ignited nearby brush, driving flames through more than 1,000 acres as this morning.

Firefighters have reached 23 percent containment on the 1,156-acre Cooley Fire, but dry vegetation could still fuel increased fire activity, Cal Fire said.

No structures, power lines, or critical utilities face an immediate threat, the agency reported early Monday.

Residents should expect more smoke as fire activity increases around 1 p.m. but firefighters are maintaining "heightened vigilance," according to CalFire.

Although temperatures are expected to drop considerably, brush and other vegetation remain dry.

Firefighters have worked to keep flames west of Dry Creek and Highway 128.

Smoke reached Healdsburg over the weekend, prompting warnings and turning skies gray and fiery orange.

Firefighters from across the North Bay and Mendocino County continue to strengthen containment lines and extinguish hot spots.

They divided operations into two branches: the Elkhorn Branch to the north and the Rockpile Branch to the south.

The fire began Friday as an approved prescribed burn conducted by Cooley Ranch property owners near Elkhorn Road and Cooley Ranch Road, just north of the Sonoma County line.

The operation was intended to burn 850 acres Friday and up to 500 acres Saturday south of Yorkville and west of Cloverdale, according to a Mendocino County Air Quality Management District notice.

Cal Fire did not conduct the prescribed burn. The agency took over management Friday after flames crossed a road at the top of a ridge and escaped the burn’s established boundaries, The Press Democrat reported.

Cal Fire is investigating how the fire escaped, including weather conditions and the firefighting resources available when the burn began.

The agency listed the fire at 40 acres Friday night. On Saturday, it increased the estimate to 1,000 acres, revised it to 558 acres after more accurate mapping, then raised it to 731 acres that evening.

Limited access and steep, rugged terrain have made parts of the fire difficult to reach safely, the agency said.