Day: June 3, 2021

By Larry Judkins

Glenn County Observer

“We don’t know yet how the fire started, but we know where it started,” John McDermott of the Orland Volunteer Fire Department told The Glenn County Observer Thursday afternoon.

The dispatch call originally went out between 3 and 3:30 p.m. as a structure fire on County Road N near County Road 200.

However, the fire was actually a large fifth wheel under an RV carport in the back of the property at 4310 County Road N, north of County Road 200, near Orland.

Initially, the Orland Fire Department was dispatched, with mutual aid being requested a short time later from Artois, Capay, and Hamilton City.

A short time later, Capay and Hamilton City firefighters were canceled.

At least one sheriff’s deputy and two Orland police officers (not counting Orland Chief of Police Joe Vlach, who was there in his capacity as an Orland firefighter) were also at the scene.

The law enforcement officers referred at least twice to an explosion that blew a piece of the fifth wheel 20 or more feet across the yard.

The explosion reminded an Orland officer of when he was helping to patrol Paradise following the Camp Fire and propane containers were continually exploding.

Needless to say, the fifth wheel was a total loss. An update is possible tomorrow.