Category Archives: Emergencies

Del Norte, Crescent City, Other Jurisdictions Finalize Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

Thumbnail photo: H Dock in the Crescent City Harbor’s marina bore the brunt of the damage from Kamchatka tsunami on July 29 and July 30, 2025. Tsunamis were among the potential risks Crescent City and other parts of Del Norte County face, according to its the most recent countywide Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. | Photo courtesy of Mike Rademaker

Del Norte County supervisors on Tuesday adopted an updated plan that seeks to reduce risk to life and property from natural disasters and other hazards.

The five-year two-volume countywide Local Hazard Mitigation Plan identifies the community’s risk from wildfires, tsunamis, earthquakes and other disasters, said Sasha Jones, a senior resilience and climate adaptation planner with Tetra Tech. 

The plan is a product of more than two years of public outreach, meetings, surveys and collaboration with other jurisdictions that must also adopt the plan, Jones told supervisors.

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(UPDATED) Family Organizes Search Party For Missing Crescent City Woman

Thumbnail photo courtesy of the California Highway Patrol

Updated at 3:06 p.m. Wednesday

Stephanie Atchison was found safe Wednesday morning and is being treated at Sutter Coast Hospital, Undersheriff Devin Perry told Redwood Voice Community News.

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Original post

Friends and family have turned to the community to help find 24-year-old Stephanie Atchison who was last seen at her Parkway Drive home last week.

Atchison left her home at Parkway Drive and Railroad Avenue at about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 9, Del Norte County Undersheriff Devin Perry told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has entered her into its missing persons system, Perry said, and had conducted a ground search that was unsuccessful despite requesting pings on her cell phone to try to locate her.

Atchison is described as a white female, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, black pants and a white beanie, according to

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With Pac Power Unable To Support A Microgrid, SitelogIQ Proposes Solar Panels For The Jail, Flynn Center

Thumbnail image: SitelogIQ had proposed using photovoltaic solar panels and battery backup to create a microgrid in the northern area of Crescent City that would power the school district, Sutter Coast Hospital, the airport and the Crescent Fire and Rescue fire hall. | Image courtesy of SitelogIQ

Two years after outlining microgrid projects that would keep Del Norte County’s critical infrastructure functioning during a power outage, SitelogIQ representatives told supervisors that a facilities-based approach would be more feasible.

Despite spearheading successful projects in Pacific, Gas & Electric territory, including four in Humboldt County, SitelogIQ’s governor affairs and community development representative Kristy Coughlin said Del Norte County’s utility, Pacific Power, would be unable to manage a microgrid.

“Pacific Power determined they did not have the capacity, resources, personnel or infrastructure to support a community microgrid,” Coughlin told supervisors on Tuesday, adding that the company had met with Pacific Power in March.

Continue reading With Pac Power Unable To Support A Microgrid, SitelogIQ Proposes Solar Panels For The Jail, Flynn Center →

Body Of 63-year-old Man Recovered From Capsized Boat Near Battery Point Lighthouse

Thumbnail photo: A U.S. Coast Guard vessel and the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office’s patrol boat responded to a capsized boat near Battery Point Lighthouse on Wednesday. | Photo by Heather Polen

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 63-year-old man whose body was recovered from the water near Battery Point Lighthouse early Wednesday afternoon.

A U.S. Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat from the Chetco River recovered the body of James Eric Englehart after the sheriff’s office received a report of a vessel spinning in the water with no one on board near the lighthouse.

The call came in at about 11:20 a.m., according to Undersheriff Devin Perry. By the time the sheriff’s office deployed its boat about 15 minutes later they found that Englehart’s 12-foot aluminum vessel had capsized, but was still floating.

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Search Is Underway For Pregnant Woman Who Entered Ocean Near 5th Street On Sunday

Thumbnail photo: Crescent City Police are spearheading the search of a pregnant woman who was last seen entering the ocean near the 5th Street stairs and not seen leaving the water on Sunday evening. | Photo by Heather Polen

An active search is underway for a possibly pregnant woman who was last seen in the water near the foot of 5th Street in Crescent City at about 7 p.m. Sunday.

Reports from bystanders who were about 100 yards away, the woman walked down the stairs barefoot and entered the water at about 3:30 p.m., according to Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin. She was last seen in the water at about 7 p.m. 

The reporting party called Del Norte County Dispatch to report that the woman had not been seen exiting the water as of about 8:40 p.m. Sunday, Griffin said. CCPD was still spearheading an active search for the woman as of about 11:12 a.m. Monday, though they had not received a missing persons report for anyone.

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Del Norte Man Still Recovering At Hospital Following Explosion; Sheriff Says No Further Explosive Devices Have Been Found, Though Investigation Continues

Thumbnail photo courtesy of GoFundMe

Five days after a “bomb-like device” exploded in his hand, Jason Turner is still being treated for his injuries at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

“Jason is doing well,” his girlfriend, Pamala Ganfield, told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday. “He had another surgery the day before yesterday (that) took about an inch more of his forearm.”


Ganfield and Turner were picking up spent fireworks at Point St. George at about 3 p.m. Sunday when he found what appeared to be a ball-shaped object with a nail sticking out of it. The item exploded when Turner picked it up. It sounded like a bomb, Ganfield said. Her boyfriend was on the ground bleeding.

Continue reading Del Norte Man Still Recovering At Hospital Following Explosion; Sheriff Says No Further Explosive Devices Have Been Found, Though Investigation Continues →

Del Norte County man’s hand is amputated after explosion at Point St. George; girlfriend says they found shiny ball-shaped object in the sand

Thumbnail photo: Jason Turner is at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento where he is being treated for injuries sustained after an object exploded in his hand at Point St. George on Sunday. | Photo courtesy of Pamala Ganfield

A Del Norte County man is at a Sacramento hospital after a fireworks explosion on the beach at Point St. George led to the amputation of his left hand. 

Jason Turner was walking the beach with his girlfriend, Pamala Ganfield, on Sunday, putting a few spent fireworks into a pile when they saw a shiny object in the sand. Ganfield said it looked like a bouncy ball with an opening at the end and a nail sticking out of it.

“He went to pick it up — I told him no — and boom, that was it,” Ganfield told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “I couldn’t see. I couldn’t hear. It sounded like a bomb. I looked over and my boyfriend was on the ground bleeding and his hand was opened up like a banana.”

Continue reading Del Norte County man’s hand is amputated after explosion at Point St. George; girlfriend says they found shiny ball-shaped object in the sand →

Firework Explosion Seriously Injures Beach-goer at Point St. George Day After ‘Mild’ Holiday

Though the Del Norte County sheriff called the holiday pretty mild compared to previous Independence Days, his deputies are investigating an explosion that sent one man to the hospital the day after.

The explosion occurred at Point St. George at about 3:50 p.m. Sunday, Del Norte County Undersheriff Devin Perry told Redwood Voice Community News. A couple visiting the beach had been walking along the sand picking up a few spent fireworks and found what appeared to be a silver ball with a screw sticking out of it.

“The female said as soon as the male picked it up it exploded,” Perry said. “There were significant injuries to his hand. He was taken to Sutter and then they (flew) him out to a higher level of care.”

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Rock Slide Closes South Fork Road, Blocks Big Flat, Boulder Creek Resident From 199

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Joe Gillespie

Above map courtesy of the Del Norte County Roads Division.

South Fork Road is closed until further notice due to a rockslide between the Rock Creek and Boulder Creek areas that occurred early Friday morning.

Joe Gillespie, who has lived in the Rock Creek subdivision for about 36 years, said the slide occurred at about 5 a.m. It’s less than half a mile upstream from his home and while his access to U.S. 199 is still open, he said Boulder Creek and Big Flat residents will need to take French Hill Road to get to the highway.

“That’s like an hour and a half detour,” Gillespie said of the county maintained road that drops down into Gasquet. “They do a pretty good job of keeping it open in case of situations like these.”

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Del Norte Supervisors Take Issue Tolowa Dunes SP Closure; Praise Tax Relief Bill Named For LaMalfa

Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Tolowa Dunes SP Closure: Three county supervisors said they fielded calls and complaints regarding the temporary closure of parts of Tolowa Dunes State Park over the weekend.

The California State Parks North Coast Redwoods District authorized the closure of several access points and trails to allow the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation to observe the Lhuk Rite Ceremony. The annual ceremony celebrates the importance of salmon and its annual return to its river habitat.

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Take Issue Tolowa Dunes SP Closure; Praise Tax Relief Bill Named For LaMalfa →