Lake County residents uneasy as Kincade Fire creeps closer to Middletown

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (KTVU) - Most attention on the 118-square mile Kincade Fire seemed to be concentrated on the extreme northeast side as it enters Lake County. 

Tuesday, was a day full of tense waiting. 

If the folks in Sonoma County are wary and nervous of fall wildfires, then the residents in Middletown area are shell shocked. 

"Five years in a row and it just doesn't want to stop," said Cobb Mountain resident Paul Wert.

 This time, the Kincade Fire appears to have put its sights on Middletown. 

"Very disheartening. Very disheartening. It's like, 'When is it going to end, you know? When is it going to stop?'" said resident Lloyd Stottsberry.

Officials are very concerned and called in the big guns— the 747 Super Tank and the DC-10 Tanker, plus a whole array of larger jets and prop tankers to make drops as the fire stretches closer into Middletown. 

Residents have had it with fires and power outages. 

"It's getting to be a real pain, this will be, if I end up having to evacuate from this one, it will be my fourth time," said Middletown resident Mitch Wisely.
 
All the while wind speeds have stepped up making the firefight harder. 

"My family is ready to evacuate. We have the car packed and our plan is, we know who's going in which car, with the dog. And I'm the last one to leave, who's going in which car, with the dog and I'm the last one to leave," said dentist James Kinsel of Hidden Valley Lake. 

During the last half-decade, many have left town permanently. 

"It's almost like it's this place was designed for fire. This is almost like it was meant to burn," said Wisely. 

At nightfall, the air war ceases and the relentless, shifting wind increases.