NORTH FORK – Oct. 12, 2020 – With the Creek Fire now at more than 55% contained and having consumed more than 333,000 acres there are still more than 1800 personnel fighting hard to bring full containment that is not expected until the end of the month.
MADERA COUNTY – North Zone – Engine crews continue to patrol and monitor the western containment line of the fire from the San Joaquin River north through the Cascadel area continuing up and around Central Camp. Fire crews also continue to chip wood debris along roads and cut hazard trees where needed including up to the Little Shuteye Peak area.
Work continues on the fire line in this area as well. Mop up and cooling hot spots also continues along the northwestern section of the fire near Upper Chiquito. There are some areas where suppression repair work has begun on dozer contingency lines. The backhaul of hose and equipment continues from areas where that equipment is no longer needed.
The Structure Group was merged with the Roads Group and continues to work on hazard tree cutting and clearing along secondary roads as well as continuing to monitor the conditions along primary roads. They will also continue to patrol the areas with structures.
The air was clear for part of the day yesterday and helicopters were able to support fire fighters on the ground as needed. Several helicopters re-located to the Mammoth Lakes airport on Sunday Oct. 11. This allows for faster/easier access to the northeast side of the fire and provides an option for helicopters to fly when conditions become too smoky at the other helibases.
FRESNO COUNTY – South Zone – Fire suppression repair is a series of immediate post-fire actions taken to repair damages and minimize potential soil erosion and impacts resulting from fire suppression activities. This work usually begins before the fire is contained and before the demobilization of an Incident Management Team. This work repairs the hand and dozer fire lines, roads, trails, staging areas, safety zones and drop points used during fire suppression efforts.
34 miles of the 275 miles of dozer line have been repaired as well as 1 mile of the 44 miles of hand line construction. This represents about 10% of the suppression lines. Suppression repair work is occurring on approximately 350 miles of line and assessments of impacts are nearly complete. The Shaver Lake community will see heavy equipment such as loaders, excavators and bulldozers working in and around the Dinky Creek area as a result.
Helicopters continue to support fire suppression progress and with the cooler temperature’s firefighters will continue to make head way on containment. Rugged and steep terrain continue to present challenges.
Smoke will be seen in the general area as fire personnel continue to strengthen the fire perimeter. Some residents remain evacuated in the areas of Mono Hot Springs, Vermillion Resort, Muir Trail Ranch, Blayney Meadow and Florence Lake.
High pressure will rebuild onshore from the Pacific today, becoming gradually stronger while producing warmer and much drier conditions through the week. After a clearer sky yesterday smoke still remained overnight and will linger through the morning. Critical fire weather conditions may return by Thursday and Friday due to minimal humidity recoveries and the development of warmer than normal temperatures.
