Thanks to higher humidities, the Park Fire’s acreage remained the same as containment increased Tuesday.
The fire, which began on July 24 in upper Bidwell Park in Chico, is now 429,263 acres but is now 39% contained, according to Cal Fire.
In some areas of the fire, Cal Fire said firefighters will continue to mop up and engage in tactical patrol while others go direct and mitigate any potential spot fires near roadways.
Matt Brown, Park Fire incident operations, said the fire looks really good. He noted that in the lower section in north Chico crews continue to mop up and hit all the hot spots in there and mitigate anything that could cause a problem down the line.
He also said that along Highway 99 through Vina, Los Molinos and Dairyville — while there are fewer crews there — they are continuing mop-up efforts.
“We have had a section up in the Lanes Valley area that’s caused us a little bit of trouble the last couple shifts,” Brown said. “Essentially, we’ve got some hot spots out in the Inskip mountain area, and what we’ve got is some heat that’s kind of caught down in the lava rock there. And as we get winds throughout the day, it pops up some smoke.”
He said crews know where it is and ground crews and air resources are attacking it.
He added that the highest concentration of resources is in the Mineral area.
According to the Lassen National Forest, there was no additional fire growth in the forest as firefighters were able to increase containment and take advantage of improving weather conditions.
While forecasters note that fuels are extremely dry, the weather forecast includes lower temperatures, calmer winds and slightly higher relative humidity values.
The Park Fire has burned 113,736 acres in the Lassen National Forest, 52,937 acres in Butte County, and 376,322 acres in Tehama County.
There are 5,638 firefighters on the fire, down from a peak of 6,800. The number of helicopters on the massive blaze has dropped to 18 down from 41.
The fire camp at the Silver Dollar Fair is expected to start breaking down on Thursday as firefighters will wrap up the last 24-hour patrol on Wednesday.
Evacuation orders, warnings
The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office said on Tuesday afternoon that zones 470 and 696-A were being returned to a normal status. TCSO noted that these areas are in the foothills along the west flank of the fire footprint.
Sheriff Dave Kain also said evacuation orders are being reduced to warnings in zones 700, 702 704, 706, 708, 710 and 448-A. These zones are the Mineral community.
He said the hard work of firefighters and cooperating weather patterns over the last few days have allowed his organization to work together with Cal Fire to reduce some orders to warnings “today in the remaining area of Plum Creek adjacent to Paynes Creek and the Mineral proper area.”
“Also with those reductions will be the warning area of Highway 36 all the way up to Mineral,” Kain added. “The road closure has been moved from Little Giant Mill Road to Highway 36 East at (Highway) 172 in Mineral proper. By doing so, you can still get to some areas that are warning zones that will be just on the east side of Mineral.”
But he said that those trying to get to there have to be able to produce identification at that road closure to show that residency rights within those areas.
Road Closures due to the fire include Highway 32 at Humboldt Road in Butte County. In Tehama County, road closures include the previously mentioned Highway 36 at Highway 172, Plum Creek Road and Hogsback Road, Highway 36 at St. Bernard Lodge, County Road, Block E.
In Shasta County, Highway 89 through Lassen National Park is closed.
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