Experts Predict Minimal Fire Growth on the SRF & Redwood Lightning Complexes for the Remainder of the Season
A flock of birds flies over the 2023 SRF Lightning Complex and Redwood Lightning Complex [Sourced from InciWeb]
Current Situation: The 19 fires in this incident total 17,982 acres and overall containment is 23%. The nine uncontained fires described below total 16,234 acres. Hog Fire and Lost Fire are in Redwood National and State Parks. All other fires described in this update are in Six Rivers National Forest. A total of 1,006 personnel are assigned to the incident. Recent rains have brought a change in the fire environment. Fire modeling experts predict there is a low probability these fires will grow significantly for the remainder of the season. Current fire, weather, and fuels conditions are now optimal for using carefully managed fire as a tool to remove excess fuels from the landscape. Agency administrators and fire managers, in consultation with tribal leaders, are considering proactive options for reducing fuels to lessen future fire likelihood in the area.
Hog Fire (0.01 acres) – This initial attack fire was detected last Saturday in the southern end of Redwood National and State Parks. The fire is a lightning strike in a single cedar tree. The burning tree was felled and the fire is lined and nearing full containment.
Lost Fire (740 acres, 68% contained) – Fire managers were able to construct line around the steep rocky northwest corner of the fire, and line is now completed around nearly all of the fire perimeter. Suppression repair work, such as recontouring dozer and hand lines, is in progress. Backhaul of unneeded equipment is ongoing.
Pearch Fire (5172 acres, 8% contained) – The southern end of the fire in Divisions Z and J is contained, and crews continue to patrol and further secure this area. Crews continue to search for and extinguish hotspots on the western side of the fire. Today, a check line will be built around an 80-90 acre pocket of unburned fuels in
the southwestern part of the fire, and, weather permitting, strategic firing operations may be used to reduce fuels in this area. A chipper is removing slash from an indirect line/road near the southwest corner of the fire. The structure protection group continues daily checks of hoses, sprinklers, and other structure equipment in the area, and unneeded equipment is being backhauled. A night shift of engines continues to work the fire.
Bluff #1 (2096 acres, 26% contained) and Mosquito (2580 acres, 24% contained) Fires –A combination of masticators, fallers, and hand crews is working to extend an indirect line north along the 13N13 Road. This work should be completed today. Mastication is occurring on the Gasquet Orleans Road (G-O Road) northwest of Beans Ridge. This should be completed in 2 days. The east side of Mosquito Fire is contained by direct line along the Cedar Camp Road in Division M. An indirect line has been completed westward from the southeast corner of Mosquito Fire in Division M. Mastication has been completed along an indirect line that runs from north of Bluff #1 Fire, along the west side of that fire, and southward in Division N. Crews are working on connecting the south end of this line down into Bluff Creek and across to the line running west of Mosquito Fire
with handline. This should take one more day to complete. Four chippers are working to remove slash from the masticated indirect lines north, west, and south of Bluff #1 Fire. The cumulative effect of all these actions is the near completion of a “box” around the Bluff #1 and Mosquito Fires from which these fires are unlikely to escape. The box may also serve as potential containment lines for any future landscape-level fuels reduction projects that may occur. Work on these two fires, as well as others in the Complex, is being closely coordinated with tribal resource advisors to ensure that important cultural and historical resources are being protected.
Blue Creek #2 (3186 acres, 0% contained), Marlow (1545 acres, 0% contained), and Copper (837 acres, 0% contained) Fires – These fires are being patrolled by aerial resources as weather conditions allow. They are bounded by indirect control lines to the east and south, and significant movement of these fires is not expected.
Monument (2 acres, 0% contained) and Let er-Buck (75 acres, 0% contained) Fires – Due to limited values at risk, the remote, steep terrain and associated safety concerns for our firefighters, and the low probability of success using standard suppression tactics, these fires are being addressed with a confinement strategy. Terrain, natural fire barriers such as rock outcroppings, and old fire footprints where fuels are limited will be used to confine fire growth until season ending precipitation extinguishes the fires. These fires are checked regularly by aerial patrols to ensure they remain within acceptable bounds, and little to no fire growth has been observed.
Below are details and links that might be helpful to those concerned about the SRF Lightning Complex and Redwood Lightning Complex.
Complex Overview:
The Roads:
There are no major roads closed at this time. Check Caltrans QuickMap for the most up to date information on road closures.
Maps:
Click the map to enlarge.
Weather:
According to the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1, “We will experience a stable weather pattern through the weekend. Highs will be in the 70s along ridgelines and 80s on lower slopes. Winds will be light from the west with afternoon gusts of 15-20 mph. The long-range forecast is for unseasonably warm and dry weather to continue through next week.“
Evacuation and Meeting Information:
- On September 5, evacuation warnings for Zones HUM-E008-B and SIS-1701 near the Pearch Fire were lifted due to increased containment and decreased fire activity.
- There is a “Be Ready” evacuation warning still in effect for Zone HUM-E009 – Hwy 96 and Red Cap Road along east bank of Klamath River, south from Salmon River, east to Orleans Mountain. Anyone in this area should be prepared for potential evacuations, including personal supplies and overnight accommodations.
For information on current status of evacuation warnings for the Complex or to sign up for alerts, visit the following sites:
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- ZoneHaven/Genasys for map and zone identification: https://protect.genasys.com.
- Humboldt County Residents Register for Humboldt Alert Notification: www.humboldt.gov/alerts
- Siskiyou County Resident Register at Code Red Alert Notification: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/6F327CCDFFFD
Smoke Outlook:
Other Important Information:
Forest Closures:
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- Six Rivers National Forest: Area and campground closures are in effect on portions of Six Rivers National Forest. They can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/srnf/notices/?cid=FSEPRD1096395.
- Redwood National Park and State Park: There are multiple closures in the parks due to several fires, including closures in the Lost Man area. For a full list of closures and impacts, please visit: www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/conditions.htm.
Important links to also watch:
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- Redwood National and State Parks Information Hotline: Phone: 707-464-6101 and website report on conditions.
- Hoopa Information Hotline: Phone: 530-618-2995 | Email: [email protected]
- More Fire Information Links: www.linktr.ee/srffirepio
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
- Lost Fire Near Orick Continues to Blaze Uncontained and Unnoticed in the Midst of Wildfire Overload
- Wildfires from Orleans to Orick to Hoopa United Under New Name and One Command
- From Hoopa to Siskiyou and Over to Orick–the Six Rivers 2023 Lightning Fires Current Situation
- Firefighters Battle Lightning Complex in Humboldt County
- Six Rivers Lightning Complex: Much More Active Yesterday and More Activity Expected Today
- Rainfall Offers Hope to the Six Rivers National Forest 2023 Lightning Complex
- After Recent Lightning Storm, Five New Fires Added to 2023 Six Rivers Lightning Complex, Bringing Total to 17 Fires
- Pearch Fire and Several Unstaffed Fires Remain Uncontained in the 2023 Six Rivers National Forest Complex
- 2023 SRF Lightning Complex Sees New Evacuation Orders as the Pearch Fire Remains Untamed
- Firefighters Act Quickly to Extinguish New Fire in 2023 SRF Lightning Complex (16,478 Acres, 20% Contained)
- No Additional Firing Operations Planned on the Pearch Fire as Firefighters Take Advantage of Moisture and Natural Barriers to Contain the 2023 SRF Lightning Complex
- Lightning Complex and Redwood Lightning Complex Have Burned 17,803 Acres and is 21% Contained
- Hotter, Drier Weather May Create More Smoke on the Six Rivers Lightning Complex
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Are you freaking kidding me!? Nature, God, Ja, or however you want to say it, gave us the rain that cleared the air and you want to light it up again?
Do you, Rocky Mountain Team people, know what it’s like to live in these canyons that have been filled with smoke from these fires, these burning operations year after year? Are you going to fill our canyons with smoke and go home?
Do we get a say before you take away our breathing air again?
Is your love of fire, as a tool to manage the land, outweighing your compassion for the people and animals who live here? Does your fascination for fire keep you from listening to what Mother Nature said when she brought us the blessed rain?
Do you folks from the Rocky Mountain team not notice how the people are rejoicing under the clear blue sky right now? And you are going to light it up again?
Stop!
I doubt they have much compassion for people that live in the forest in high severity fire danger areas.
Those people make there jobs more dangerous and tend to complain a lot.
You should be happy that the rain brought conditions that make it possible to do proactive work.
Wow. I think you should be the one to tell the three tribes that have lived here since time immemorial that you have no compassion for them, and that they just make firefighters jobs more dangerous and see what kind of reaction you get.
The tribes were using fire as a tool long before European history started here.
The fact that your day to day air quality somehow supersedes public and firefighter safety says enough.
Agree, use of fire is an old age process practice by all three river tribes since time immemorial. Now is an excellent time to clear out the under brush and over stocked conifers. High RH recovery, light winds and shorter days is ideal conditions. I watched the firing of the control lines and they went slow over a couple or three days. Long gone are the days where they build a box and torch it. Plus the tribes have representatives on team and provide quite a bit of input regarding actions taken.
Thats bullshit. The tribes had no way of controlling large lightning caused fires. They burned small areas at appropriate times. Totally different. It’s just liberal koolaid you are drinking. Has no relevance to the current fires, which have been naturally occurring for eons.
Seems harsh, Mosby only said “use of fire is a old age process used by all three Tribes” the rest is your inference seemingly influenced by what triggers you.
My post never claimed tribes controlled large fires?
This doesn’t have anything to do with political koolaid so I’m not really sure where you thought that would take you.
You are right though, these fires have been burning for eons, and will continue to so.
Summer fires are supposed to be a natural part of the landscape. The fires this year are primarily backing fires with occasional torching. While smoke sucks and its effects on people living and working in it should not be ignored, it is an inevitable annual occurrence here. Air conditioning, filter improvements and I hate to say, masks need to be part of every residents routine. Consider that when an inversion sets in and puts a lid on the smoke, it is also dampening fire intensity. When the smoke begins to lift is when fires make their runs and do the most damage. So between fretting about the smoke, take a clear day and appreciate, for a minute, that after the horrible smoke clears, these low intensity fires are good for the area in the long run.
As long as they are n95. 0r kn95. And not counterfeit ones.
Griffin and others
I think we should take a lot into consideration.
I am so grateful for the Hoopa Fire Department being involved with the Lone Pine Fire. They were able to get in there and work and make the boundaries of the fire smaller than the line that the Forest Service planned to draw.
Another thing to consider is what was the Landscape like before the Europeans arrived with their saws and cut the forests down? An old growth forest is an intricate system that was completely disrupted and changed when we logged. A lot of the native burning was for basket materials and clearings to live in. Do you really think the Old Growth Forests needed treatment with fire like you say you need to do now? The Old Growth Forest was resilient to fire.
Yes burning is a tool. I’m relieved the tribes are involved. But that tool can be used excessively.
Griffin have you lived here and seen the kind of air we’ve had for weeks on end? Day to day air quality? How about months on end of hazardous air quality we’ve had. Is that good for public safety? Elders have had to be evacuated to the coast because of the air quality. Industrial air scrubbers for the school. Particulate matter reaching levels of 1920 last year directly due to burning for fuel reduction. This after weeks of the worst air quality on the entire planet.
Burning can be a tool and I didn’t ever say that it shouldn’t be used for structure protection or for firefighter safety.
But consideration for the health of the community from the smoke is important.
We’ve made lots of mistakes in our ideas of how to treat Mother Nature. Good intentions quite often have led to unintended consequences. What are going to be the consequences of the smoke filling these unique valleys for months at a time on the health of the communities? We’re already seeing the economic costs to our communities.
We are all on a learning curve and what is good in the long term- we won’t have that answer for generations.
I thought Hoopa Firefighters did a great job getting the lone pine fire under control.
To think that all fires in that area should be suppressed immediately leads back to a century of policy of the Forest Service. It has lead to some of the conditions we have today. Now that the area has mostly burned in the last 20 years letting lower severity fire burn is probably the best solution.
I get it, smoke sucks. That will always be a part of summer in Northern CA.
I would also add that I am not an enemy, I am also a neighbor.
I respectfully disagree. The forests we have now aren’t the forests that were here for eons. Once we got our chainsaws and tractors and cut huge amounts of trees we radically changed the landscape and we damaged the system that could handle fire. It’s up to us to manage the fires and the forests now. Many ways of managing, this situation we put ourselves in, have been tried. From logging and then planting, to fire suppression without any meaningful management, to the idea that fire is natural and part of the system. What system? We radically changed the natural system. It’s out of balance We should be protecting these forests, these trees, until there is a healthy system again. And that’s going to be a very long time.
We interfered with chain saws and tractors and now we interfere with drip torches and drones. We’re going to burn more and not replant? This is just the latest idea of how to manage the forests in a long line of well intentioned but disastrous ideas.
I never implied that these forests are the same forests that were here for eons. You are correct chainsaws and tractors have altered the natural systems.
As have large wildfires that burn through unthinned plantations. I don’t think the solution is to use fire and not replant. That seems like a terrible idea. I do think that low severity fire is probably the only tool the forest service has in its tool box to manage landscapes because they get sued quite often when they propose thinning over crowded stands.
The other problem with this area is that it is very dangerous if not impossible to fight these fires directly in steep, remote, rugged mountains. I think they could probably be more direct than they are at times, but firing down ridges is often the only option they have.
I hope the rest of your summer is as smoke free as possible.
Thank you Griffon I wish the same for you.
The fact is that we ARE burning without replanting. And we agree that that is not a good idea.
And I get that it’s steep. I live here and walk here and it’s dangerous when there is a fire. But I’ve been told by FS officials that were here that it’s so steep that there aren’t any “game trails.” That really bothered me because I know it’s not true. I live where he was talking about and the animals are all over. Lots of trails. Sometimes I think that is just an excuse especially as I saw fires put out that same summer in terrain that is so similar to our north- they were put out when they were small. Intention. I think that is key. To put fire out if at all possible in the summer and burn during the shoulder seasons should be the intention. And with the consideration for the smoke and for the animals that have no where else to go. That is why there are permits.
Enjoy this beautiful day Griffon.
Thrilled to see the proactive forest mgmt to reduce fuel for future fires. Quite a change in recent years (I can remember huge resistance from eco-fanatics to even salvaging dead trees).
Love to see these detailed reports (masticators, yeah!).
It would be extremely interesting to see discussions of the specific modeling packages they are using and what are their inputs, outputs, and processing.
An expert is someone from out of town. Will Rogers.
Out of towners telling us we shouldn’t live here- that’s disgusting. Good thing you are anonymous here. I planted trees here 50 years ago. When someone says occasional torching I find that disrespectful- a crime. And no replanting now equals the creation of a landscape of dead snags and brush. Fire lover’s dream. Fuels reduction is an excuse. The motivation is money. Keeping the fire going keeps the money flowing. There is no money in putting fire out.
The smoke and fire from a lightning strike in these very moist woods, where the ferns and the moss grow and the banana slugs live, is night and day compared to thousands of ignitions from drip torches and drones- and trying to confuse this is where you hide.
Fire lovers want to dismiss the smoke and say it’s something we should put up with and wear a mask. Because of your poor management we should wear a mask?
And increased cases of lung disease, heart disease and dementia is okay with you? It’s not okay with us. Any of you fire lighters with your hands in your pants while lighting fires should be put in jail.
Nobody is telling you where to live. If you choose to live in the forest next to federal land in a high severity wildfire area you will have smoke. Just like there has always been smoke in the summer at times.
I don’t disagree with much of what you say. I will say that there are too many people living in the hills for a natural fire regime. Backing fires are the best case scenario and it seems that the Feds are letting those work where they can. The problem is that at the bottom of most backing fires is the potential for slope driven runs (insert torches and drones to hopefully mitigate). All Smokey
Terrain in Six Rivers and Klamath is incredibly difficult to fight fire on directly which adds to the complexity of the matter.
Too many people living on the planet period. Too many drip torches and drones with no consideration for air quality. Land management practices should take into consideration the health and well being of the community. And that hasn’t happened in the last three or four years. There is a good reason that air quality management is involved in permitted burns. If the burns were permitted and air quality was considered we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. We wouldn’t have had months of extremely hazardous air. But the USFS has found a way around the laws. Deceiving the tax payer to get the tax payer dollars. It’s criminal behavior. There are people in the USFS that should be indicted or arrested. And further down the chain of command, there are quite a few involved in the industry that seem to have developed an unhealthy and very strong desire to light fires. And they all encourage each other and tell each other it’s okay.
So firefighters are the enemy in your eyes? Outrage and insult, invented motives, emotional triggers and the need to punish. That’s you Old Man, get out of your head.
Firefighters are not my enemy. I respect fire fighters. It’s the fire lovers who I question. No one has addressed any of the points I’ve made. Maybe we’re both right. Time will tell. I’m old; i’ll be gone before that.
But we should both enjoy this beautiful clear day. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
She surely became the fire industrial complex!
The Great Fire economy rises, like the gold, timber and weed generations!.
We’ve seen it begin, and that’s to be noted,
We predict many years of good industry work,
yet inevitably, the generations of trades people may become decadent and inert when management trends change and the money vanishes.
Perhaps for at least the next 15 years, the fire industry will rule rural mountain areas…
Get involved or observe the strange visitors making better than a years local income for a quarter year of work or more.
It truly is good news for Smokey bears hairs