The Red Salmon Complex Now 10,178 acres and 35% Contained

Helicopter water drop on Red Fire on Aug 10. [Photo from InciWeb]

Helicopter water drop on Red Fire on Aug 10. [Photo from InciWeb]

Press release from the Red Salmon Complex Fire Information Office:

Current Situation: The Red Salmon Complex is 10,178 acres and 35% contained. The Red and Salmon fires are burning in the Trinity Alps Wilderness on the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Both fires are being managed for full suppression utilizing minimum impact suppression techniques in the wilderness and working with resource advisors to protect cultural values. California Interagency Incident Management Team 4 has taken management of the fire as of 6:00 pm yesterday evening.

Red Fire: The fire is 9,376 acres and 19% contained. Yesterday, there was little growth on the south flank.  Today, crews will strengthen line on the west flank of the fire and continue firing operations as conditions allow. Firing operations are holding and backing downhill toward the fire from Mill Creek Gap to 9N31. This fire eventually will connect on the northern perimeter near the South Fork of Red Cap Creek and Black Mountain. The north flank continues to hold. The east flank of the fire held overnight but could show more activity today as fuels dry and winds align with the terrain.

There was a heat signature found near Prospect Peak on the Klamath National Forest approximately 1.5 miles from the east flank of the Red Fire. A crew was able to hike in and scout it out yesterday. The fire has grown to approximately 25 acres in size. More firefighters will be inserted today to assist with suppression efforts. Smoke Jumpers are ordered; however, a smoke inversion has limited the ability for them access to the fire.

Salmon Fire: The fire is 802 acres and 89% contained. There is containment line all the way around the fire. Mop-up and patrol operations will continue. Fire will continue to smolder and burn interior unburned fuel.

Weather: Conditions will be warmer and drier today, but also more stable as high pressure approaches late this afternoon. Winds will be out of the northwest. There is a threat of thunderstorms this weekend.

Air quality: Smoke impacts continue to be in the unhealthy level at Forks of Salmon and areas close to the fire. Communities down drainage along the Bigfoot Highway will again see smoke settle down to the surface around midday. This will degrade air quality in areas such as Orleans, Weitchpec and Hoopa, which could see periods of unhealthy air at times. Areas east of the fire, including Etna and the Scott Valley, should again see smoke impacts rise to unhealthy late in the day before improving in the overnight and morning hours. Generally, west to northwest transport winds should keep the skies hazy over Shasta Valley and areas far to the east and southeast of the fire. Refer to fires.airfire.org/outlooks/NWCalifornia. 

Closures: The Red-Salmon Fire Complex Forest Closure effected on August 8, 2020. All National Forest System roads within the Red-Salmon Fire Complex Closure Area are closed as well as: Forest Road Nos. 07N53 (Grizzly Camp), 07N15 (Fawn Ridge), 10N05 (Upper Leary Creek), 10N01 (Trinity Summit), and 07N10 (Lone Pine Ridge). All National Forest System trails within the Red-Salmon Fire Complex Closure Area are closed as well as: Forest Trail Nos. 6E04 (Orleans Mt Trail), 5438 (Nordheimer), 12W08 (East Fork New River), and 12W02 (Salmon Summit). Big Rock River Access.  

COVID-19: COVID-19 precautions are a priority at all incident camps with daily temperature screenings of personnel and implementing measures such as wearing face coverings and social distancing to prevent coronavirus spread. Community and firefighter safety are a top priority of both the incident management team and the National Forests.

2020-08-13-NWCalifornia-Outlook.20200813145218

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16 Comments
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Nick Levis
Guest
3 years ago

Thank you firefighters!!! May God Bless and protect you.

Gimmie a break
Guest
Gimmie a break
3 years ago

Are any old growth redwoods in danger from this fire?

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago
Reply to  Gimmie a break

No. Any redwoods are well west of this fire.

Hugyourlocaltree
Guest
Hugyourlocaltree
3 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Nobody ever cares about the manzanita and oak 😭😭😭

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago

Manzanita are my favorite. .. especially the ones that look 99% dead and then have a single red run of bark spiraling up and a small color of life.

I suspect most of the trees in this run are Doug fir with some Red fir in the higher spots.

The Real Brian
Guest
The Real Brian
3 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Ullr, Are there redwoods in Trinity?

Of course none around me, but I’m not very familiar with the west county areas.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago
Reply to  The Real Brian

I’ve got a big coastal redwood that I planted 20 years ago… but no. Their ecosystem is in the coastal fog line.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago

Smokejumpers inbound… probably on that spot fire to the North.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n634ct/

researcher
Guest
researcher
3 years ago

From looking at the maps that spotfire looks bigger than 25 acres and it’s situated mid-slope on the mountain with this afternoons prevailing winds pushing it upslope. Dangerous situation for smoke jumpers. Hope they’re safe.

on edit; According to current Wildfire Reports map it’s already lost as there are now heat signatures far outside the burn, both upslope and downslope. There is a huge meadow on top of the ridge above the burn so the smoke jumpers have a safe area to hunker down if need be.

Martin
Guest
Martin
3 years ago

Worrying about damage to the forest and terrain while trying to fight the fire is crazy. The fire needs to be stopped anyway possible. I really don’t care if they push over some trees and brush, or drive through any creeks. Use an all out effort to put it out! Playing with it is not helping, and the firefighters are already exhausted. That is about the time accidents happen. I pray all the firefighters will come out of this mess unharmed.

Erik
Guest
Erik
3 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Why the hell would you want to put this fire out beyond structure protection? It’s a natural fire burning in the wilderness, in a fire adapted ecosystem that has an average 20 year fire return interval. Almost every photo I have seen shows a cool under story burn, with a some crowning that can help create a mixed severity mosaic, which is good for wildlife. What do you think happened before we started suppressing fire? Native people learned to work with fire, not against it to everybody’s benefit.
Here is a good heat / perimeter map:
https://maps.nwcg.gov/sa/#/%3F/%3F/41.1858/-123.4553/13

The Real Brian
Guest
The Real Brian
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

What’s the elevation average out there?

Erik
Guest
Erik
3 years ago
Reply to  The Real Brian

Looks like about 2400 to 6200 feet in and around the fire area. That link should display labeled contour lines, if not you can turn them on as well as swap out map base layers.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

Yup, this looks like a good burn. Not a world urbanites can grasp.

Martin
Guest
Martin
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

Erik, I guess you want to pull all the fire fighting efforts on this fire away, and just let it burn. The natives had no choice on fires. They had no way to fight them. They worked by running away if the fire was near.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago
Reply to  Martin

There’s a lot of gray area between full suppression and pull all the firefighters and resources off the fire.

The indigenous population understood the benefits to fire and often started them.