20 Confirmed Fires Ignited by Lightning Strikes

The following is a press release from the United States Forest Service:

From Wikimedia.org.

EUREKA, California, June 10, 2015, noon – Lightning across the Six Rivers National Forest over the two days has started at least 20 wildfires. At this time, there are 8 fires on the Gasquet Ranger District, the forest’s northernmost district; 1 fire on the Orleans District; 7 fires on the Lower Trinity District; and 4 fires on the Mad River District, on the southern end of the forest.

The largest of these fires is the Devil Fire on the Gasquet District. This fire has burned 19.4 acres and is 100 percent contained, with crews mopping-up and patrolling the perimeter. Most of the other fires are much smaller, many at less than an acre.

“Our fire staff is working hard to get a jump on these fires to keep them small,” said Merv George Jr., Six Rivers National Forest Supervisor. “With the amount of lightning we’ve had, there may be more starts that we just don’t know about yet. Today, we’ll be doing some aerial reconnaissance to pinpoint the location of some of the fires, as well as to see if there are additional fires out there.”

Today’s forecast is calling for above normal temperatures, with thunderstorms developing this afternoon.

Fire restrictions have not yet been implemented on the forest; however, forest visitors should be aware of the fire danger and exercise caution with campfires. A permit is required for any campfire, gas cook stove, or barbeque when outside a developed campground or recreation area. Permits are free and are available at any Six Rivers National Forest office.

Fires are also active on the Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, Modoc and Rogue River-Siskiyou national forests.

Tweet from the United States Forest Service:

Approx 2,600 lightning strikes since 6am; 33 confirmed new fires across 6 Nat’l Forests in Northern California #cawx pic.twitter.com/rVcCrRn1hs — USFS Fire-California (@R5_Fire_News) June 10, 2015