UPDATE, 5:02 p.m.: As today’s blaze in Fairhaven was thankfully getting less interesting, LoCO spoke with Nate  Gonzalez, volunteer firefighter with Samoa Peninsula Fire District. We had snapped a photo of him surveying the flames with his nickname “Gonzo” emblazoned across the back of his helmet (he told us he picked up the moniker when he was in the Navy). As fate would have it, today’s little flareup just off New Navy Base Road occurred on Nate’s last day on the job — he’s shipping off to Astoria, Oregon “literally tomorrow” where he will be stationed as a member of the US Coast Guard. 

“I can’t believe I got a fire on my last day,” Gonzalez told us. 

Nate struck LoCO as a fine chap and is sorry on behalf of all of Humboldt to lose him to Astoria. All the same, good luck up there, Gonzo! 

—Andrew Goff

Photos: Andrew Goff.

UPDATE, 4 p.m.: The fire is contained, but firefighters are letting it burn to the edge of the roadway — a “preexisting fireline,” as one professional on the scene called it. 

Samoa Peninsula Fire District Chief Dale Unea tells the Outpost that the fire burned approximately 1 1/2 acres and tt is unclear at this time what caused it. 

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UPDATE, 3:32 p.m.: Kent Hulbert of Humboldt Bay Fire tells the Outpost that the fire is about an acre in size, and has been downgraded to a “slow” rate of spread. Luckily there’s not much wind on the peninsula at the moment, Hulbert said.

Firefighters just radio’ed in to dispatch that the fire has been contained.

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People from all around Humboldt Bay are reporting this large plume of smoke from the southern end of the Samoa Peninsula. 

The smoke is coming from a vegetation fire near the intersection of Simpson and New Navy Base roads, just outside of Fairhaven. The first firefighters on scene estimated the fire between one and three acres in size, and spreading at a “moderate” rate.

Calfire and Humboldt Bay Fire are among the agencies responding to assist local volunteer crews in battling the blaze.

The Outpost’s Andrew Goff is on his way to the scene. We’ll update when we know more.