Park Fire activity ‘subdued’ overnight; weather conditions improving

The Park Fire, according to a statement from CalFire at 11:33 a.m. this morning, Tuesday,Aug. 13, 39 percent contained. It has blackened 429,263 acres in Butte, Shasta, Tehama and Plumas counties.

According to an update from CalFire, fire behavior was subdued overnight due to higher humidity. The fire is primarily burning in timber and dead and down vegetation.

Today firefighters will continue mop-up and tactical patrol in some areas of the fire. Firefighters will continue working going direct and mitigating any potential spot fires near roadways.

Repopulations are occurring where it is safe to do so, with multiple orders also reduced to warnings recently. Stay diligent while on the roads as crews and equipment may be working in the area.

Lassen National Forest
Firefighters continued to patrol the Park Fire overnight. With no additional growth, increased containment and improving weather conditions, the amount of remaining hot spots along the fire’s edge and potential for additional growth will continue to decrease. Firefighters on the ground continue to be assisted by the infrared capabilities of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and aircraft to locate remaining hot spots and extinguish them.

Today, firefighting resources are focused on hazard tree removal along roadways and the fire perimeter, suppression repair efforts, strengthening existing fire line and patrol of the entire fire perimeter.

While fuels remain extremely dry, today’s weather forecast includes lower temperatures, calmer winds, and slightly higher relative humidity values.

Fuels burning within the fire perimeter can smolder for days hidden beneath a layer of ash. The smolder vegetation within the fire perimeter is not a threat to the existing containment.

However, firefighters will continue to aerial heat detection to extinguish any heat near the fire’s edge.

The Park Fire has burned 113,736 acres on the Lassen National Forest.

The current acreage is 429,259 in total
Butte County: 52,937 acres.
Tehama County: 376,322 acres.
Damage Inspection Teams have completed 100 percent of their assessments.

Between both counties, there are 641 destroyed structures and 52 damaged structures. The total number destroyed and damaged includes infrastructure.

Butte County
No damage: 893 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 47 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Destroyed: 428 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).

Tehama County
No damage: 391 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 5 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Destroyed: 213 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).