Dixie Fire Update: Friday, Oct. 22
According to a statement from the U.S. Forest Service, the Dixie fire has burned 963,309 acres, is 97 percent contained and a total of 1,102 personnel are battling the fire.
For East Zone fire information, call (949) 573-5702 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). For West Zone fire information, call 592-0838 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) or E-mail: 2021.dixie.ca@firenet.gov.
East Zone
A significant amount of work has been accomplished over the last week, especially in the Phase 1, high-priority fire suppression repair areas. Unfortunately, the heavy rains that were predicted for this morning have materialized. The weather and site conditions will be the determining factors as to what work is accomplished today. The two most important considerations when deciding whether to engage in fire suppression repair activities are operational safety and avoiding any negative impacts to the resources. The rain will be most intense this morning, tapering off this afternoon and less precipitation is expected in the area tomorrow. Once this front has passed, the resources will assess their work areas and determine if it is safe and effective to engage. All fire repair suppression activities are conducted through a coordination process that involves operational resources (crews, heavy equipment, etc.), resource advisors/READs (biologists, archeologists, botanists, etc.) and in areas that impact Native American sites, tribal representatives. All these entities work together to ensure that the work being completed is appropriate to the identified natural, biological, cultural, and historical resource.
The East Zone did not receive any smoke reports yesterday. Every additional, significant rain event reduces the few remaining areas of isolated heat within the interior; they continue to pose no threat to containment. Should any smokes become visible during any dry breaks in the weather, please contact the Plumas County Sheriff’s Dispatch at 283-6300. All firefighters working on the incident are available and prepared to respond and suppress any new fire starts.
West Zone
Heavy rain is falling this morning over the Dixie Fire area, and the West Zone Incident Meteorologist expects 1.0” to 1.5” in the rain bucket by late morning, with the snow level dropping to around 6300 feet in elevation during the day.
The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Flood Watch for parts of northeastern California, including Lassen, eastern Plumas, and eastern Sierra counties starting late Saturday night and extending through Monday morning and forecasters expect significantly more rain and snow at higher elevations. With ample warning of inclement weather, incident officials have had time to plan for this storm. Work is being accomplished where practical at lower elevations, and crews are well positioned. Emergency personnel who normally do initial attack on wildland fires are prepared to respond to other types of emergency situations created by this weekend’s stormy weather.
Today, weather permitting, heavy equipment crews are wrapping up chipping and root-wad piling operations near Bogart Station, and are continuing work on extensive suppression repair south of Old Station. Skidder crews moved decking operations to the Canyon Dam area, where feller buncher crews and falling teams are nearly done with their operations. These crews have begun hazard tree mitigation work on Lassen County Rd 312 and the access to Feather River Estates and the Domingo Springs area. Crews are repairing hand line in the Gurnsey Creek Campground area and helping with repair of sensitive areas in Carter Meadows.
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Heavy equipment crews continue to work on extensive suppression repair operations near Butt Creek, focusing their efforts on high priority areas and using lighter equipment in sensitive places like creek crossings.
Incident officials and local agencies are hoping for dryer weather next week and remain committed to completing as much repair work as possible across the Dixie Fire area before being forced to shut down by winter.
Closures
Closure orders remain in effect for some areas of the Lassen National Forest and Plumas National Forest. For more information, visit InciWeb (inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/7690/) or the interactive forest closure map (arcg.is/1re8my0).
In the Lassen Volcanic National Park, 1 mile of the park highway is open from the northwest entrance, and 8 miles are open from the southwest entrance. Elsewhere in the park, the highway remains closed. For more information, visit Lassen Volcanic National Park’s webpage for the Dixie Fire (nps.gov/lavo/learn/nature/dixie-fire.htm).
