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Wind tests containment lines on August Complex South Zone
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Red flag conditions with strong wind gusts continued to test the containment lines on the August Complex South Zone this week.
The complex, which has been burning for two months after being started by lightning, remained at 1,032,648 acres on Tuesday, with containment at 93 percent, the US Forest Service reported.
It is burning in the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
The complex’s South Zone, which includes the Mendocino National Forest in northern Lake County, remained at 499,827 acres and 90 percent containment on Tuesday, the Forest Service said.
Additional personnel arrived at the South Zone Monday bringing the total number of people to 224. The Forest Service said 594 personnel are assigned to the complex as a whole.
Officials said the fire crews continue to focus on removing hazard trees, conducting fire suppression repair in priority areas and breaking down berms near containment lines.
On Monday, during the red flag warning, at times the northeast wind blew up to 40 miles per hour and the humidity dipped into the single digits, dropping as low as 1 percent at Mendocino Pass, the Forest Service reported.
The area of the fire that is not contained is in the Hellhole Canyon east of Covelo. This steep, dangerous terrain is not a safe place to have firefighters engaged directly with the fire, officials said.
Instead, the Forest Service said crews have worked to construct firelines on a ridge where suppression actions could be taken if it moved out of the Canyon. They have also been assisted by a helicopter dropping water on the fire when activity increases.
Throughout the duration of the August Complex, fire managers have been using distributed real time infrared, or DRTI, and fire imaging technology to support wildland firefighting operations and decision making, the Forest Service said.
Officials said DRTI is a packaged product which provides infrared video to frontline operators and near-real time perimeter maps to incident command planners. Point/spot detection in concert with high-resolution photographs make DRTI an effective detection tool.
The high altitude, high speed flight characteristics of the Air National Guard RC-26 aircraft provide the ability to fly detection missions over broad geographic areas. Wireless transfer of data from the aircraft facilitates transfer of information to ground units, according to the Forest Service report.
Utilizing the DRTI flights, firefighters can gather immediate information on heat signatures within the fire area. The Forest Services said the system can pinpoint heat signatures posing a threat to containment, allowing firefighters to quickly address those hazards and in turn decrease exposure to firefighters on the ground.