Park Fire update — 8:53 a.m. Saturday, Aug, 3 — 27 percent containment

The good news is containment of the Park Fire increased to 27 percent. The bad news is with the return of hot weather, the fire lines will be tested, and spot fires and active fire behavior are expected.

Here’s a status update from CalFire
The Park Fire remained active overnight. The smoke provided shade and cloud cover, and moisture moderated fire behavior compared to the previous night.

The fire is being carried primarily by grass and brush, mixed timber and dead and downed vegetation. The fuels are heavy, dry, and very receptive to fire. The first few days of this fire saw significant fire behavior and unprecedented fire spread. A few days of moderated weather allowed plans to be put in place to construct containment lines. Now that hot and dry weather has returned, those lines are being tested. Spot fires and active fire behavior are expected to present challenges for fire crews the next several days.

Thunderstorms are expected to continue today and could be more widespread in coverage. Higher temperatures, lower relative humidity and gusty winds could lead to critical fire behavior and plume development.

Fire continues to persist near communities, challenging crews in the wildland urban interface. Firefighters will continue working to open control lines from previous fires, as well as building new ones.

Firefighters are removing hazardous trees from populated areas, and utility crews are working to replace damaged infrastructure in order to allow the public to return home safely. There are many narrow roads across the fire area so please, give first responders and utility workers plenty of room to work and mind all traffic laws and public safety communications.

Lassen National Forest
The total Forest Service acres involved in the Park Fire is 95,353. The remaining 305,603 acres are on state and private lands for a total of 400,956 acres with 27 percent containment.

Fire activity in Deer Creek cast smoke to the north which helped to shade the sun and decrease activity in Mill Creek and Antelope Creek Canyons. While some areas of the fire received light precipitation, cloud cover and increased humidity over the entire fire area helped to moderate fire behavior. This helped crews continue to work towards keeping the fire away from the communities of Mill Creek and Mineral.

The current acreage is 400,956 total
Butte County: 52,937 acres.
Tehama County: 348,028 acres.

Damage Inspection Teams are at 94 percent completion of their assessments. These numbers are updated twice daily. Between both counties, there are 567 destroyed structures and 51 damaged structures. The total number destroyed and damaged includes infrastructure.

Butte County
No damage: 880 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 46 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Destroyed: 427 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).

Tehama County
No damage: 262 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Damaged: 5 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).
Destroyed: 140 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures).