Aug. 7—The Park Fire grew to nearly 421,000 acres on Tuesday as it took advantage of poor humidity recovery. Cal-Fire said the fire exhibited uphill runs and intense fire behavior.
Officials say the 420,827-acre fire, which is now 34% contained, will continue to burn actively. It will move to the North and east and ascend slopes with critically dry fuels.
Gwendolyn Ozark, Park Fire Planning Chief, told firefighters in Wednesday’s operational meeting that the control objectives have changed.
“They are to keep the fire north of Skyway, keep the fire east of Highway 99, Highway 36, Manton Road, Rock Creek Road, and Wilson Hill Road, keep the fire south of Highway 44, and keep the fire west of the Pacific Crest Trail,” she said,
It burned nearly 7,000 acres overnight. According to they Lassen National Forest, Tuesday night, firefighters used a direct attack where the fire crossed CA-172.
Incident Commander Billy See told firefighters on Wednesday morning they’ve narrowed the fight.
“We’re down to about a 30,000-acre fire. The other 390. which should be in full swing, fire suppression repair, mop up and getting things back to normalcy,” he said. “Focus on what is important out there today. Okay, that 30,000 acres is no easy feat. You guys are going to be challenged.”
See said in the morning briefing that with more than 6,600 firefighters on the fire, they are looking at different locations for possible support camps in the future.
Fire officials say thick smoke will keep temperatures down slightly cooler and increase humidity over parts of the fire later this afternoon as crews continue to battle high heat and deep drainages, engaging the fire offensively where safe to do so.
A weather system is expected to move into the area later in the week, increasing humidity. Despite that, See told crews that the poor humidity recovery is a concern.
“We’re going to get the canyon winds. My concern (is that) the lid’s on this thing right now. It’s preheating,” he warned. “Once we get a breath of fresh air, this thing’s going to want to stand up and move.”
Operations Chief Mark Brunton told firefighters in the morning briefing that Mill Creek and Deer Creek remain the focus. He told the crews that they had had some equipment burnovers and that fire behavior was unprecedented and they need to have situational awareness and to be “hypersensitive about it.”
“Talking to a lot of people that have been around fires for quite a while — myself included is the fact that this is the kind of fire behavior that is unprecedented,” he said. “We haven’t seen … I mean for this fire to jump up in the top five most destructive fires in California’s history has said something and you’re seeing it out there. So it’s time to maintain that sit
Night operations chief Eric Schwab said that a firing operation was started last night in the area of Highway 36 and 172 in an attempt to cut the head off.
The ParkFire has burned 107,116 acres in the Lassen National Forest.
Monday’s fire activity forced some evacuation warnings to be upgraded in the area east of Mill Creek.
Originally Published: August 7, 2024 at 10:32 a.m.
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