U.S. Forest Service press release:

Total Personnel: 465, Crews: 4, Engines: 27, Dozers: 5, Water Tenders: 7, Aircraft: 4

An infrared flight Monday night over the McCash Fire showed the fire is 44,977 acres. This was the first infrared flight over the fire in nearly 48 hours due to a mechanical issue. The fire is 1 percent contained. There are 465 people assigned to the incident.

There will be a community meeting in Somes Bar tonight, Sept. 1, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held outside at Junction Elementary School. Representatives from Great Basin Team 3 and the U.S. Forest Service will provide information and answer questions about the McCash Fire. The meeting will be recorded and posted on the Six Rivers National Forest Facebook page.

Crews spent Monday working to secure the northern contingency line in the Independence Creek area following Sunday’s firing operation. They mopped up the line, looking for hot spots and extinguishing them from Johnson Hunting Grounds to the Independence Bridge. The mop up operation carried over into night shift and will continue today.

Firefighters identified three spot fires north of the contingency line: one south of Tinkham Creek, one near Bishop Creek and one west of Lick Creek. Crews on the ground, supported by water drops from helicopters, worked throughout the day Monday to contain those spot fires. They will continue this work today.

The Highway 96 Structure Group spent Monday supporting the mop up operation along the contingency line in the Independence Creek area. They will do the same today until they are no longer needed, and then will move to Happy Camp to begin structure assessments. Likewise, the Elk Creek Structure Group will head to Happy Camp to begin assessing structures once their work in Elk Creek is finished. This could happen as early as today.

Crews working in the Ti-Bar and Patterson areas are continuing to extinguish hotspots, adding more depth to the containment lines yesterday on the southwest edge of the fire near Ti-Bar Road. In the Patterson area, crews have nearly finished prep work on the Iron Phone Road (13N11) all the way to the point where the road is washed out. This work will provide a contingency line inside the 2017 Haypress burn scar for firefighters to use should the McCash Fire move further south.

A new division has been created on the northeast side of the fire. Division November encompasses the area around Norcross Campground and Buckhorn Bear, where a spot fire estimated at 1,000 acres is burning. The resources assigned to the division will scout the area today to develop a plan for suppression of the spot fire. The division will be staffed with additional resources to implement that plan as other sections of the fire are contained or as new resources are assigned to the fire.

Smoke may settle into the valleys along the Highway 96 corridor at times today. Please continue to use caution as you drive through the fire area for your safety and the safety of others, including firefighters.

Weather: Weather is expected to be hot and dry again today. Temperatures are predicted to reach the upper 80s in the Klamath Valley with a minimum humidity of 18 percent and wind gusts up to 10 mph.

No Drone Zone: A temporary flight restriction remains in place over the McCash Fire. Flying a hobbyist drone over a fire puts everyone at risk and hinders firefighting suppression efforts. If you fly, we must ground all aircraft, due to the dangers unauthorized drones pose to firefighting aircraft.

Smoke: Smoke from the McCash Fire and neighboring fires in northern California is impacting local communities. For air quality information go to https://fire.airnow.gov or https://bit.ly/SiskiyouWildfireSmoke.

Evacuations: For the most current and accurate evacuation information for Siskiyou County, please visit the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/SiskiyouCountySheriff or the county evacuation map at https://bit.ly/SiskiyouEvacMap.

All residents are encouraged to sign up for CodeRED Emergency Alert at: https://bit.ly/CodeRedSiskiyou

Construction: Caltrans is beginning bridge work today at mile marker 37.3 on Highway 96 east of Orleans. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Drivers should expect a 5-minute delay. Road information can be found by calling 1-800-427-7623 or on the Caltrans website https://roads.dot.ca.gov/

Visit the following sites for specific Forest Closure information:

U.S. Forest Service Region 5 https://bit.ly/R5ForestClosures

Six Rivers National Forest https://bit.ly/SRNFNotices

Klamath National Forest https://bit.ly/KNFNotices

For further information about the McCash Fire, please visit the following links: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7757/