OROVILLE, Calif. – The Bear Fire burned a significant portion of Lake Oroville’s shoreline but damage along the lake was sparse. It will remain closed until evacuation orders along all parts of the lake are lifted.
Lake Oroville, in total, has a shoreline of about 168 miles. Over 50% of the recreation area along the lake, which is a large portion of the shorline, burned during the Bear Fire.
Most of what burned was vegetation but several of the Loafer Creek recreation area’s facilities have sustained minor damage, including the campground.
Other areas are still being evaluated, as are hazard trees in many areas. Many of these are still needing to be cleared.
Lake Oroville is still closed to the public at this time.
“The lake is under closure right now. The whole lake here is under that closure. We can not allow any boating at this time. There are portions of the lake, specifically the north fork, the south fork and the middle fork that are within those mandatory evacuation zones. The rest of the lake including the main body are in the warning zones, but because of the madatory evacuation orders in those other zones, we can not allow any access on the body of the lake,” said Matt Teague, the Northern Buttes District Superintendent, California State Parks.
He says as soon as evacuation orders are lifted on all areas of the lake, then the lake will be able to open to the public.
One house boat also burned during the fire but the boat fire has not been attributed to the Bear Fire as of yet.
The marinas have had no reported damage.
With regards to all the ash that you might be seeing floating around, the California Department of Water Resources says they will be investigating this soon to see if it has affected the water quality.