Tag Archives: del norte news

Last Week’s Waldo Fires Likely Set Maliciously, Fire Chief Says

February 6, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Debris left behind by a fire that burned RVs and other makeshift structures on Waldo Street on Jan. 30. | Photo by Heather Polen}

A week after his firefighters responded to multiple blazes near Waldo and State streets, Crescent City Fire and Rescue Interim Chief Bill Gillespie says it’s likely they were maliciously set.

Gillespie, who returned to the fire chief role in December, said the department is still investigating the origin and cause of fires that occurred on Wednesday and Friday. In one incident, there were two separate fires burning 100 yards or more apart, he said, which is too much of a coincidence for it to be incidental.

“(Firefighters) responded into the area, they got there, they had two well-established fires burning in trailers and vehicles around the whole configuration,” Gillespie told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday, adding that he spoke with Battalion Chief Ray Rook and others who responded. “The fires wouldn’t have been that well advanced if one had spotted from another fire.”

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Articles, Law

Sex Offender Sweep May Have Led To ICE Rumor, Del Norte County Sheriff Says

February 4, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

The Del Norte County sheriff says a Facebook rumor stating that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in the community may have been started because of a sex offender sweep his deputies conducted Wednesday.

Sheriff Garrett Scott said his department and others, including Del Norte County probation, conducted a pre-planned sweep of the sex offenders who are supposed to be registered under California Penal Code 290.

There are about 100 registered sex offenders living in Del Norte County and the sheriff’s office regularly puts a team of law enforcement officers together to ensure they’re complying with the law, Scott said.

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Articles, Emergencies, Humboldt, Klamath

Search Continues For McKinleyville Fisherman Who Was Swept Into The Ocean In Klamath

February 2, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Maximo Macanas | Photo courtesy of Macanas family}

The search continues for a McKinleyville man who was swept into the water near the mouth of the Klamath River on Saturday.

Maximo Macanas was fishing from shore with his family on the south side of the river when a sneaker wave swept him into the ocean at about 4 p.m., according to a message posted on Facebook by Macanas’s family.

Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott said the U.S. Coast Guard brought a helicopter to the area to assist in the search, both on Saturday and Sunday. Macanas was last seen in a black puffy jacket and green waders, Scott told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.

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Articles, Economy, Environment

Unwilling To Wade Into the Offshore Oil Debate, DN Supervisors Ask Staff To ‘Track Federal Policies’

February 2, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Oil platforms off the coast of Seal Beach, Calif. | Photo by Mike Peel via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License}

Del Norte County supervisors declined to take a position on offshore oil drilling in the Golden State with one representative stating that weighing in on the issue might “put ourselves in the middle of a much larger fight.”

District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard on Tuesday quoted from a Politico article that stated that the Trump administration’s plans to open federal waters in the Pacific to offshore drilling “looks designed to antagonize Gov. Gavin Newsom.”

Howard also cited reports from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Stanford University that stated that the last time the Elk River Basin was studied for potential petroleum development was in 1960.

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Articles, Crescent City, Emergencies

Sheriff’s Office, Fire Department Investigating Blazes In Encampment Area Near Waldo

January 31, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Heather Polen}

Eight individuals were displaced due to fires that burned “at least two RVs” and other structures in the Waldo Street area Friday evening, Crescent City Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Ray Rook told Redwood Voice Community News.

Rook said he and six firefighters arrived on scene at about 9:21 p.m. to find two fully involved fires about 100 to 200 yards apart. The larger fire involved at least two RVs and other structures, including one that someone was living in. The blazes were down toward the end of Waldo Street on the gravel portion of the road in an area that houses several homeless encampments, Rook said.

The cause and origin of the fires are still undetermined, the battalion chief said. There were no injuries.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

CEO Says Crescent City Harbor Will ‘Go Through The Procedures’ To Satisfy Public Concern Over Commissioners’ Bonds

January 29, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine}

A former county supervisor called it a red herring and the harbormaster said it was silly, but Del Norte County Clerk-Recorder Alissia Northrup reminded commissioners that the public’s concern about whether they have a faithful performance bond is real.

Northrup said she has an insurance policy that was meant to act in lieu of commissioners’ individual bonds, but it’s not signed and it’s old.

“It could have been canceled years ago,” she said Wednesday. “All I wanted was a complete current policy. That’s what I asked for and I’ve been unable to get one to date, so I want to make sure that we put it out there, it’s not silly. The public has an interest.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

CCHD Recap For Jan. 28, 2026

January 29, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine}

Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Crescent City Harbor District meeting.

Citizens Dock & Sea Wall: Harbor commissioners unanimously adopted the mitigated negative declaration the California Environmental Quality Act requires to move the two projects forward.

Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr, who helped the Harbor District obtain the two US Maritime Administration grants needed to fund the projects, said the district could now focus on obtaining its construction permits.

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

After AB 1014, County Supervisors, Residents Seek To Slow Speedsters on Fred Haight

January 29, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: County supervisors and residents are seeking to potentially lower the speed limit on Fred Haight Drive near the Smith River townsite. | Photo courtesy of Michelle Carrillo}

Michelle Carrillo rejected the idea that hearing a person’s lived experience isn’t data.

Appearing before Del Norte County supervisors about three weeks after a car struck and killed her family’s dog near their Fred Haight Drive home, Carrillo said that she spent a month speaking with neighbors who shared stories of near misses and dead animals. It may be qualitative data, but it’s still data, she said Tuesday, and taking no action to try to reduce speeds on the Smith River thoroughfare was untenable.

“We’re in an agricultural area of the county with multiple uses happening at once from farm equipment, school activities, residential driveways, pedestrians and through traffic,” Carrillo said. “I understand there are certain things we have to figure out there and it’s not going to be a uniform speed across the whole road, that makes sense, but 50 on any section of that road does not make sense.”

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte Supes Recap For Jan. 27, 2026

January 28, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail image: Screenshot}

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Welcome to California: The Board of Supervisors congratulated Caltrans representative Julia Peterson after she unveiled new California welcome signs that they said were far superior to Oregon’s.

Peterson showed supervisors an early rendering of the signs created after a public survey showed that the most favored themes were bears and elk. Three-dimensional bears will grace the sign on U.S. 199 while elk and salmon will welcome motorists driving south on U.S. 101, she said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

Citizens Dock, Seawall Projects Up For Discussion at Wednesday’s CCHD Meeting

January 27, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz}

Crescent City Harbor commissioners are expected to take a final step toward starting a $15 million project to replace Citizens Dock and an adjacent seawall this spring.

The Harbor Board will consider adopting a mitigated negative declaration Wednesday based on a 709-page study of its potential environmental impacts. The study includes two phases of the Citizens Dock rebuild, though the Harbor District doesn’t have the funding to complete the second phase, according to Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr.

It also includes a construction project near the small boat ramp off Anchor Way to mitigate potential habitat loss as a result, Bahr told commissioners during a public hearing held Jan. 14.

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