Dixie Fire Update, Tuesday, Oct. 19
According to a statement from the U.S. Forest Service, as of Tuesday, Oct. 19 the Dixie Fire has blacked 963,309 acres, is 95 percent contained and there are a total of 1,218 personnel battling the blaze.
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: [email protected].
Here’s the latest information available.
East Zone
Approximately 61 percent of the Phase 1, high-priority repair work in the East Zone has been completed. Overnight precipitation Sunday significantly hampered repair operations on Monday. Snow and wet roads made accessing many repair sites impossible. For example, Grizzly Ridge, having received more than 6 inches of snow, was inaccessible. Trucks and heavy equipment would have either gotten stuck or caused more damaged to roads and meadows than the damage they were there to repair. Equipment operators used the time to conduct maintenance and repair on the machinery. Some hand crews, resource advisors, road graders and other equipment moved to lower elevations where they were able to proceed with the fire-suppression repair effort. The East Zone did not receive any smoke reports yesterday.
An incident management team transition is occurring today on the East Zone. After receiving a briefing and shadowing California Interagency Incident Management Team 14, Incident Commander Russell Harris and Eastern Area Incident Management Team Silver will assume command of the fire at 6 p.m. CIIMT 14, under the leadership of Incident Commander Steve Watkins, would like to thank cooperators and the community for its support during the fire-suppression repair efforts. Repairs to public and private lands damaged during the suppression effort will continue without interruption.
West Zone
Despite yesterday’s wintery weather and several inches of fresh snow at upper elevations, the majority of heavy equipment crews assigned to the west zone of the Dixie Fire engaged in repair work on the land without doing more damage to the land. Wet and slippery conditions did cause a pause in work in some areas however, including hazard tree removal operations in the Highway 89 corridor and chipping operations in the Pine Creek area.
Crews made good headway with suppression repair operations near Lake Almanor, with feller-bunchers and falling teams removing hazard trees near Canyon Dam and skidders decking timber north of Westwood in the Robbers Creek area near Mason Station. Heavy equipment crews began work on extensive suppression repair operations near Butt Creek in the Carter Meadows area, focusing their efforts on high priority areas, which they feel they can complete successfully before the onset of winter.
Incident officials and local agencies remain committed to completing as much repair work as possible across the Dixie Fire area before being forced to shut down by an approaching winter season. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Weather and fire potential
Tuesday will provide a short interlude of fair weather before a string of frequent disturbances are forecast to roll through the area starting Wednesday and into early next week. With recent widespread precipitation, fire behavior is expected to be very low. The few areas of isolated heat that remain within the perimeter pose no threat to containment. Areas of lingering heat will produce less visible smoke; however, if you observe smoke, call Plumas County Sheriff’s Dispatch to report it at 283-6300. Firefighters working on all areas of the fire are available to respond, locate the source of smoke, and extinguish it.
Closures
Closure orders remain in effect for some areas of the Lassen National Forest and Plumas National Forest. For more information, visit InciWeb at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/7690/ or the interactive forest closure map at 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 at nps.gov/lavo/learn/nature/dixie-fire.htm.