Park Fire 34 percent contained; public meeting tonight in Chester

Park Incident Community Meeting tonight in Chester
Lassen National Forest and CalFire host a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Chester Fire Department, 251 Chester Airport Road in Chester.

The Park Incident Operations Section Chief and Incident Commander will provide an update on the current situation and operational strategies. Officials will be available for questions after the update.

Park Fire update
According to a CalFire report at 9:20 a.m. this morning, Friday, Aug. 9, the Park Fire is 34 percent contained and has blacked 428,744 acres.

CalFire reports firefighters made good progress on the Park Fire overnight. There were fewer spot fires than in previous nights, and firefighters were able to construct a direct line in the Mill Creek area. The fuels in this area include significant brush, timber, and understory with limited fire history.

Fire is burning primarily in mature timber stands and dead and down fuels. Firefighters continue to aggressively engage in a direct firefight where possible. They are working in very hot conditions and in steep terrain and deep drainages.

Over the weekend, lower temperatures and higher humidity are expected to limit fire spread in some areas. However, winds are expected to increase which could lead to more wind-driven fire activity.

Repopulations are occurring where it is safe to do so. However, threats remain to several communities in the region.

All evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted in Butte County, while some orders and warnings remain in Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties.

Lassen National Forest
Last night on the Park Fire, firefighters held the fire within the planning area through direct action on active fire and tactical firing on indirect lines with the support of night capable aircraft.

Today aircraft and crews will utilize direct tactics to hold the fire within the perimeter and mop-up less active fire areas. Mop-up is a phase of fire suppression that involves removing or extinguishing all burning or smoldering material along containment lines.

An inversion layer is predicted to hover over the fire creating hazy conditions.

The collaborative, risk-informed strategies, and tactics from all our partners are being implemented under unified command.

The Park Fire has burned 113,022 acres on the Lassen National Forest.
The current acreage is 428,744 in total.
Butte County: 52,937 acres.
Tehama County: 375,807 acres.
Damage Inspection Teams have completed 100 percent of their assessments.

Between both counties, there are 636 destroyed structures and 49 damaged structures. The total number destroyed and damaged includes infrastructure.

Butte County
No damage: 882 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 47 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Destroyed: 428 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures). 

Tehama County
No damage: 277 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 5 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).|
Destroyed: 212 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).