The fire that began Friday as a prescribed burn on a ranch west of Cloverdale grew by about 425 acres Sunday. Crews had it 15% contained.
Roger Coryell
Roger Coryell reports on water, local government and the wine business across Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties. He edited the Sonoma County Gazette until its closing in 2026, and his reporting has appeared through Bay City News and Local News Matters, The Mendocino Voice and the Sebastopol Times. Reach him at roger@rogercoryell.com or 707-394-2642.
West of Cloverdale, a prescribed burn crosses its lines
Cal Fire calls it the Cooley Fire and now lists 731 acres, 5% contained.
The Veterans Memorial Building stands at First and Church streets in Guerneville on Aug. 18, 2026. A 2019 engineers' report found the 1957 hall, home to West County Community Services' year-round homeless shelter, would likely be unusable after an earthquake. (Roger Coryell/Wine Country Gazette)
Guerneville: Our hall is falling down
A 2019 engineers’ report says Guerneville’s 1957 veterans hall will likely be unusable after an earthquake, and the county’s new license with the shelter there says the county isn’t obligated to make structural repairs.
A sign reading “Monte Rio Awaits Your Return” hangs above a street in Monte Rio in front of a house and wooded hills, Nov. 9, 2009. (Stepheng3/Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Sonoma County ends ADU ban on 3,997 lots, 494 in Monte Rio
Sonoma County will stop banning ADUs on 3,997 unincorporated parcels Nov. 5. About half touch high or very high fire hazard land, and half of the Monte Rio lots touch the river’s flood area.
Looking down the one-lane roadway of the Wohler Bridge over the Russian River on June 24, 2012, years before the seismic retrofit began. (Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sonoma County’s Wohler Bridge will stay closed past Oct. 30 target
Sonoma County now expects to reopen the century-old Wohler Bridge over the Russian River this winter, about a year later than the county first said.
WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobe Stock
Santa Rosa nursing home on federal list of troubled homes
Federal inspectors found that missed skin checks led to maggots in a resident’s toe wound and the amputation of his toe.
Current and proposed maximum base rates for Sonoma County Fire District ambulance transports in Exclusive Operating Area 1. Source: Sonoma County Department of Health Services. Graphic: Wine Country Gazette
Sonoma County supervisors weigh 9% ambulance rate increase
Sonoma County Fire District had asked for 16.36% and has agreed to cooperate with an independent financial audit. Supervisors take up the 9% increase on their consent calendar Tuesday.
Thomas/Adobe Stock
Lake County leads California in suspending students
Mendocino County tied for fourth in suspensions, and both counties rank near the top of the state for chronic absence.
Main Street (State Route 116) in Sebastopol, Dec. 7, 2007. Photo: Stephen Gold, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SebastopolMainStreetEdit2722.jpg).
Sebastopol elder care home cited for neglect, fire risk
State reports describe a bedridden resident’s pressure injuries, a resident who tried to set a bathroom on fire and missing records for a state solvency audit at Live Oak Rest Home.
Main Street in downtown Sebastopol in December 2007. Photo by Stephen Gold, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sebastopol weighs $5 million federal loan for Well 4 package
City staff recommend a federal WIFIA loan for Well 4 and two other water projects. The packet lists no interest rate, and staff’s own comparison says the state loan fund has the lowest rate.