August Complex

The August Complex, previously known as the Hopkins Fire and the Elkhorn Fire, has grown to 875,059 acres and is at 25 percent containment. As of this morning, the fire has still not crossed into Humboldt County. 

The North Zone of the complex, burning just east of the county line, has grown to 255,309 acres and is at 29 percent containment. Evacuation orders and warnings for parts of Southern Humboldt are still in effect today.

Public Affairs Officer for the Six Rivers National Forest Service Bridget Litten shared an update this afternoon on the work being done :

The priority in the North Zone will continue to be structure protection, indirect line construction (away from the fires edge) and tactical firing operations (applying fire on the ground to remove vegetation and widen containment lines).

In Ruth Valley, south of Ruth (Six Rivers National Forest), firefighters are doing structure defense preparation around the homes on both sides of the Ruth Lake Road up to the Ruth Store. This work will help firefighters defend the structures as the fire moves to the north.

On the west perimeter of the fire, in the Zenia area, dozers are being used to construct indirect lines down to the Middle Fork of the Eel River.

On the northeast perimeter (Shasta-Trinity National Forest), the 35 Road continues to be an important strategic containment line to stop the fires progress. Crews continue working from Rat Trap to the east, improving the line and using tactical firing operations. The east perimeter near Red Bluff is in mop-up and patrol status.

You can find more information on the August Fire’s Inciweb page.

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Red Salmon Fire

The Red-Salmon Fire, burning east of the Hoopa Valley, has grown to about 84,800 acres as of Saturday morning and is 18 percent contained. 

The evacuation warning for the community of Denny has been lifted as of this morning. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office has issued an evacuation warning for Forks of Salmon. 

More information was sent by the incident management team today:

Fire crews made significant progress across the fire on community and property protection efforts on September 11th. Burnout operations widened and strengthened firelines on the western flank, adding critical protection to homes and residents of the Hoopa Valley wildland-urban interface. Overnight operations completed line construction on the west side along the 10N92 Road. Structure assessment and protection measures were provided in Forks of Salmon and Denny to reduce potential fire impact.

Today’s staffing and operational priorities will be to contain the fire west and northwest from the 10N02 road to the Hoopa Reservation boundary, including continuation of firing operations if weather conditions are favorable. To the northeast, containment lines will be repositioned to prevent fire spread north toward Hwy 93 and Forks of Salmon. Crews will continue to construct indirect fireline, prepare for additional burnout operations, and provide direct attack where safe to do so.

The fire is actively backing in Tish Tang Creek, forming alignment for potential future runs impacting cultural and resource values in the area. Fire behavior predictions suggest that once the inversion lifts today, there is the potential for fire spread in all directions.

More information can be found on the Red-Salmon Fire Inciweb page.

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Slater/ Devil Fires

The Slater Fire, which started near Happy Camp on Tuesday, is currently burning through Siskiyou and Del Norte Counties in California and Josephine County in Oregon. According to this morning’s fire update, the fire saw reduced fire activity yesterday and — after using an infrared heat detection flight last — the fire team was able to confirm that the footprint was smaller than first estimated. The fire is now estimated to be 122,006 acres and is still zero percent contained.

The Devil Fire, which was detected in the Klamath Forest on Thursday, is estimated at roughly 3,888 acres in size and is also zero percent contained as of this morning.

Evacuation orders remain in effect for Happy Camp. But, Elk Creek Road and Seiad Valley were both downgraded to an evacuation warning.

Portions of Highway 199 and Highway 96 are still closed, due to the fires.

You can find more information on the Slater/ Devil Fires Inciweb page.