Red Salmon Complex Still 0% Contained

The Red Fire on July 31. [Photo from InciWeb]

Firefighters made progress building direct line on the Red Salmon Complex which has burnt 3,420 acres on the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity national forests. Both the Red and Salmon fires are burning within the Trinity Alps Wilderness and are 0% contained. Crews utilized direct containment strategies where possible, strengthened indirect control lines using minimum impact suppression techniques, and continue working with resource advisors to avoid disturbance to cultural resources. A base camp was established in Orleans today. California Interagency Incident Management Team 14 continues to make COVID-19 precautions a priority at all incident camps by screening all personnel daily and implementing recommended measures to prevent coronavirus spread. Community and firefighter safety is a top priority of both the incident management team and the national forests.

The Red Fire is 2,721 acres and 0% contained. Crews continued firing operations today progressing on the north flank of the fire along the Lubbs Trail and the 10N01 between Salmon Trailhead and Black Mountain. This fire is the most active of the pair with small group torching and short terrain driven runs with backing on the south flank towards the Salmon Fire.

The Salmon Fire is 699 acres and 0% contained. The fire continues to hold in its current fire footprint. Firefighters went direct on both the southwest and southeast portions of the fire, building and reinforcing line from Backbone Ridge down to Eightmile Creek and Salmon Summit Ridge to Eightmile Creek.

Weather: Temperatures will be slightly cooler tonight with higher humidity recoveries over the fire area.  A low pressure system is developing off the coast bringing a slight change of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon.

Air quality: An air quality monitoring specialist is providing daily smoke forecasts and air quality information for the surrounding communities. Reports can be found here: fires.airfire.org/outlooks/NWCalifornia

Closures: Big Rock River Access has been closed in the interest of public safety as it is being used as a dip site for helicopter operations in the fire suppression efforts on the Red Salmon Complex.