Single Publication

Fire Update

2023 SRF Lightning Complex & Redwood Lightning Complex

Sunday, September 10, 2023 – 9:00 a.m.

Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1

Dan Dallas, Incident Commander

Information Phone: 530-536-0767

Email: 2023.lightningcomplex@firenet.gov

Information Staffing Hours: 8 am to 8 pm

Special Note: This update covers 9 of the 20 fires being managed as part of the Complexes. The remaining 11 fires are listed in the accompanying Complex Overview. Those fires, totaling 1,748 acres, are contained and in patrol status. They are checked daily, and their size and containment are unlikely to change.

Current Situation: The 20 fires in this incident total 18,458 acres and overall containment is 23%. The uncontained fires described below total 16,710 acres. Lost Fire is in Redwood National and State Parks. All other fires described in this update are in Six Rivers National Forest. A total of 1,030 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 approaching optimum 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 prepared to implement a plan with the combined objectives of suppressing the current fires while reducing fuels to lessen future fire occurrence or intensity in the area. A Firing Group has been assembled to take advantage of strategic firing opportunities throughout the Complex as conditions allow.

Lost Fire (740 acres, 92% contained) – The final section of handline around this fire should be completed today. Backhaul of unneeded equipment was completed yesterday. Suppression repair work, such as recontouring dozer and hand lines and reconditioning roads, is in progress. This work is being completed by hand crews assisted by two excavators and a grader.

Pearch Fire (5334 acres, 8% contained) – Crews continue to patrol completed firelines and secure the fire perimeter as needed. Backhauling of supplies and equipment is underway. Yesterday, the Firing Group conducted strategic firing to fill in a 80-90 acre pocket of unburned fuels on the west side of the fire. This work was 75% completed and will be finished today. An area of active heat continues to back downslope into the Butler Creek drainage on the eastern side of the fire. Firefighters are aware of this and are watching the area throughout each day. There are currently no threats, and no action is needed at this time.

Bluff #1 (2125 acres, 26% contained) and Mosquito (2609 acres, 24% contained) Fires – Hand crews, dozers, masticators, and chippers have been working continuously since the early days of these two fires to construct a containment “box” of direct and indirect containment lines around the fires. This work is now almost complete. Fire managers plan to complete the objective of full suppression of these fires, while also performing landscape-level reduction of excess fuels to lessen the occurrence or intensity of future fires, by initiating a plan of strategic firing operations within this containment box. This work will begin as soon as fuels have dried sufficiently from recent rains to carry fire. This may be as early as today. Implementation of the plan will be slow and methodical over multiple days to allow monitoring of effectiveness and to make adjustments as needed. Residents can expect to see more smoke during these firing operations. This is an expected result and not an indicator that the fires have escaped or present a threat. This operation has been carefully planned and coordinated with cooperating agencies and tribal leaders. 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 protected.

As work on the “box” described above nears completion, crews are beginning to move to other priorities in Branch XX. Masticators are starting brush removal work on the Nickowitz Road, and this work should last 6-7 days. The Firing Group scouted areas of the Bluff #1 and Mosquito Fires for strategic firing opportunities yesterday. A small firing operation was conducted along the 12N14 Road both as a test and to support the preparation of a check line west of Mosquito Fire. Another test firing operation may occur today in the horseshoe shaped area on the south end of Bluff #1 Fire, fuel moisture levels permitting. An additional test on the south end of Mosquito Fire is possible but not likely today.

Blue Creek #2 (3358 acres, 0% contained), Marlow (1562 acres, 0% contained), and Copper (902 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 growth of these fires is not expected.

Monument (2 acres, 0% contained) and Let er-Buck (77 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.

Weather: A quiet and seasonal weather pattern is forecast today through the middle of next week. Highs will be in the 80s with overnight lows in the 50s. Winds will be light from the southwest.

For information on Closures, Evacuations, and Alert Notifications please see the accompanying Complex Overview.

Fire Information Contacts

Phone: 530-536-0767 | Email: 2023.lightningcomplex@firenet.gov

InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/casrf-2023-srf-lightning-complex

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2023SRFRedwoodLightning

Redwood National and State Parks Information Hotline: Phone: 707-464-6101

https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Hoopa Information Hotline: Phone: 530-618-2995 | Email: serene.oes@gmail.com

More Fire Information Links: www.linktr.ee/srffirepio

NOTE: For information about the Elliot or Hancock Fires which are part of the

Happy Camp Complex, please visit https://linktr.ee/happycampcomplex2023 .