Air Ambulance with Patient Aboard Spots Fire on Pudding Creek Near Bald Mountain

A CALSTAR helicopter that had just picked up a patient at Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Hospital spotted a white column of smoke along Pudding Creek in Fort Bragg and called it in, that call helped quickly stop a fire in a spot considered more of a risk for wildfire than most Coastal areas. 

Laurel Krause, who lives at the Allison Center for Peace on her property at the end of Pudding Creek Road on Bald Hill, the high point of the Fort Bragg area, said the crews arrived quickly after the medical helicopter reported the fire.

“Right around 4 p.m., we watched a helicopter and a spotting plane circle for hours, working with quick precision to nip a vegetation fire,” Krause said. Krause was told the helicopter coming from the hospital reported smoke near Pudding Creek and the haul road. 

“The first CalFire helicopter’s buzz of our place brought and unloaded a crew of six or seven men with chainsaws and fire-fighting equipment right in front of our view at the Allison Center and Ball Hill Ranch, near the old airstrip out there,” she said.

While the Mendocino Coast often has temperatures that top out under 60 degrees and summer fog as allies against fire, the fog ended and temperatures began to rise on Sunday. Tuesday was warmer than Monday, albeit topping out at 69 degrees just about when the fire hit, according to the National Weather Service numbers. That is considered a hot day in Fort Bragg.

“When the unloaded crew of men climbed up Bald Hill on the fence line of our property, the crew told us they were going after a small fire,” Krause said.

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Fort Bragg Fire Chief Steve Orsi said the helicopters people saw on the Skunk Train property (old milliste) were refueling for this effort.

“The call came in at 15:09. There were air units, including a spotter plane and the Cal Fire Chopper who was used to make drops on the fire that couldn’t be reached by engines. The chopper did land on the Skunk property near the coastal trail to get fueled up by their fuel tender. Probably ¼ acre. Cal Fire crews worked late into the night and went back today to ensure complete extinguishment. Nothing on cause, could have been lightning but not sure. No other apparent sources of heat,” Orsi said

Krause was appreciative of the fast work and persistence.

“For the next hour or so we watched a CalFire helicopter swiftly ferry something (perhaps it was flame retardant?) at least a dozen times back and forth from Bald Hill Road right over our place and over the ridge directly to east to the event. They were on it. It continued until 6 p.m. or so, shaking my house each pass,” Krause said.

“We didn’t see smoke and we didn’t receive notice of evacuation or warning of any kind,” Krause noted.

Bald Hill rises 770 feet up from the ocean and offers spectacular views, which for a century were enjoyed almost entirely by sheep. Bald Hill was the eastern boundary of the old Mendocino Indian Reservation, which encompassed much of the Coast and Mackerricher State Park until the late 19th century. When authorities shut the reservation down, farmers and lumber mill owners were allowed to homestead the former reservation. 

Bald Hill Ranch was known all over Northern California for its sheep cattle and other o I’ll. The entire area is difficult to access from Fort Bragg, with few roads to the area of the hill. It is possible to go in the backway from private drives off Sherwood Road.  The big ranch left behind a mix of grassy lands, brushy riparian areas along Pudding Creek and forested areas on the east and north sides. 

The fire started in a heavily vegetated area along Pudding Creek, a firefighter who had been at the scene said, not in those grassy open brushy areas, which the crews were determined to keep the fire out of. It worked. That’s why Krause saw the firefighters packing in as if they were adventurers on a mountain climb. 

The firefighter said it was never even close to reaching an acre before it was extinguished, but the area is considered risky for the Coast so the huge response many people witnessed was warranted..

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