Smith River Complex Now 30,392 Acres, 0% Containment
Night shot of the Smith River Complex by Adan Castillo Uribe as shared by InciWeb.
According to Six Rivers National Forest Service:
Due to the complexity and expansive geographic area of the Smith River Complex, Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 13 (NWIMT15) has joined with California Interagency Incident Management Team 15 (CA-IIMT15) to manage the emerging incident. The addition of NWIMT-13 will be beneficial in providing management of resources assigned to the northern reaches of the Complex to aid in fire suppression activities and improved safety. CAIIMT-15 will continue suppression efforts on fires south of the California/Oregon border. Both teams will be working closely together as they share a mutual interest to provide for the safety and welfare of the affected public and firefighting personnel.
The Smith River Complex is approximately 30, 392 acres with zero percent containment. A Red Flag Warning was issued yesterday for strong, dry, northeasterly winds which also prompted a new evacuation of the Gasquet community. Remote weather stations confirmed strong winds occurred on the upper elevations overnight, but fortunately never surfaced along the Smith River corridor, causing the fire to remain at the upper elevation and avoiding an imminent threat to the communities. Beginning Tuesday, weather is predicted to moderate with cooler temperatures. This cooling trend along with smoky conditions may reduce fire behavior across the complex. An infrared flight occurred yesterday evening and it confirmed that the Holiday and Kelly fires have merged. Going forward, the combined fire will be referred to as the Kelly Fire. Highway 199 remains closed. Pacific Power transmission lines continue to be threatened by the fires, as well.
Additional resources will continue to arrive to the incident, including six strike teams of both structure and wildland engines. These engines will be incorporated into the suppression efforts to protect communities and critical infrastructure. Additional engines and hand crews are expected to arrive over the next several days. Law enforcement personnel from multiple jurisdictions are also assisting with incident safety and security. There are currently over 850 total personnel on scene with many more expected to arrive over the next several days.
Evacuations
All evacuation orders are issued by the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office. If you are in the Del Norte County, area please sign up for their Community Alert System to receive emergency notifications. Evacuation levels as of 8:00 am today August 21st are as follows:
Level 3 “Go Now”: Patrick Creek, Little Jones Creek, Copper Creek Drainage, Coon Creek/ 16n19 17n07, Washington Flat, Pioneer Road, Panther Flat Campground Area, all communities between Slant Bridge Road north to the Oregon Border along Highway 199, French Hill Road.
Level 2 “Be Set”: High Divide, Rowdy Creek, Big Flat/Rock Creek
Level 1 “Be Ready”: Low Divide, Hiouchi from Slant Bridge to the east end of North Bank Road
Closures
Howland Hill Road (Residents Only)
County Roads 316, Shelly Creek, 315 Holiday Mine, 311 Old Gasquet Toll Road, 305 Weimer Road
Forest Service Roads 16N19 and 17N07
U.S. Highway 199 is fully closed in Del Norte County from Pioneer Road to Oregon Mountain Road (PM 16 to 31) due to the fires. A hard closure is in place on U.S. 199 at the Agriculture Station near the Oregon border. For the latest road conditions please visit quickmap.dot.ca.gov
Effective Sunday, August 20, 2023, the Six Rivers National Forest has issued a forest-wide closure order. https://www.fs.usda.gov/
detail/srnf/notices/?cid= FSEPRD1096395 The American Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds (421 US-101 N, Crescent City, CA 95531) for those who are displaced by evacuations. Red Cross disaster workers are partnering with local officials to help ensure evacuees receive basic necessities, including food, water and shelter.
We’ve gathered the most important information about the Smith River Complex and organized it below for our readers.
The Overview for Northwestern California:
The Weather:
A small chance of rain tonight. Expect moderate temperatures tomorrow.
The Roads:
Howland Hill Road (Residents Only)
County Roads 316, Shelly Creek, 315 Holiday Mine, 311 Old Gasquet Toll Road, 305 Weimer Road
Forest Service Roads 16N19 and 17N07
U.S. Highway 199 is fully closed in Del Norte County from Pioneer Road to Oregon Mountain Road (PM 16 to 31) due to the fires. A hard closure is in place on U.S. 199 at the Agriculture Station near the Oregon border. For the latest road conditions please visit quickmap.dot.ca.gov
The Map:
Information to know:
- Command: California Incident Management Team 2
- Evacuations: ?????????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???????? ?????? ????? ???-????-? ??? ???-???? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????.For the most up-to-date information on evacuations use the evacuation map at https://protect.genasys.com/search
- Important links to also watch:
Earlier:
-
- Red Flag Warning Issued as Lightning Strikes Pepper the Emerald Triangle
- Powerful Lightning Storm Leaves Multiple Fires to Combat in Northwestern California
- Lightning-Sparked Wildfires Stretch Resources in Northwestern California; Head Fire in Siskiyou County Estimated Over 3000 Acres
- Wildfires Unleashed on Northwestern California: Thousands of Acres Covered by Flames, Evacuations Ordered Following Lightning Storms
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Give it another round of climate change, California looking to get more rain during the summer months, this climate change is looking good, better weather here in Cali. Keep them fossil fuel burners going strong and keep eating them steaks. This climate change thing is looking good.
What models predict more summer rain for our region?
That’s the problem, your looking at models and I’m looking out my window at reality.
That’s the problem. The world is bigger than what you can see out your window.
So your telling me northern California fires are directly related to what’s going in China, the rest of the world, crack me up.
another two months and climate will change to a much cooler, wetter one.
I sure as hell hope you are right!
Such lovely countryside; I have enjoyed driving to Oregon on 199. It will be back, but not in my lifetime. Glad to have such beautiful memories.
Thats the thing about burnt landscapes..
If you look, and appreciate what is, you can see the familiar still..
All the shapes are still there, the creeks and rivers didn’t vanish..
Only the clique human obsession with green beauty vanished.
Victorian nature made brutal again.
And nothing says home like a ridge line silhouette of fire killed snags.
I can smell the smoke and I remember the past..
I can smell the smoke and I remember the fire and the chaos
It’s rained over an inch in Trinity Center.
Hopefully it’s enough to help with the fire close to Trinity lake .
Rain? What rain? This wildland fire is over 30,392 acres with zero containment, and it continues to eat everything in its path. At this rate it will require a major rainstorm to knock it down and kill it, and I sure don’t see one coming along.
That’s what southern California said about their fires 2 weeks ago.