The Sunset Road fire moves into its second week tomorrow, and firefighters are on “seek and destroy” missions targeting smoldering hotspots in the 1,300 acre affected area.
“The main focus now is seek-and-destroy missions,” said Incident Commander Trainee Josh Bell of the Forest Service. “We see smoke on the landscape, we go chase it. We see heat on the drone’s infrared imagery, we go chase it. Rinse and repeat, until we feel confident this thing will not come back to life,”
The fire has been mapped at 1,331 acres, and is currently 27 percent contained.
The fire was down to 400 acres and nearly contained last Friday when strong winds reignited several areas and carried embers into other woods nearby. A number of neighborhoods were briefly evacuated, and fire departments from across the area were called in to assist the Forest Service by protecting structures. No homes were destroyed during the flare up, and containment lines have held despite several dry days and high wind conditions.
Bulldozers are being used to knock down embankments that are holding heat in the rich, flammable organic soil. Helicopters made 28 water drops in two hours on Wednesday, backing up ground crews who are dousing hot spots to prevent the fire from reigniting or getting a foothold in the peat soil.
Firefighters are hoping the increased humidity today and tonight will bring more rain but fewer thunderstorms to the area. Winds of five to seven miles per hour with 15 MPH gusts are expected, and could further fan the flames in some hard to reach areas. There is a slight chance of rain in the fire zone tonight, but long term models are not showing much of the anticipated rain for the next week making it to the area.
Air quality advisories are being issued when deemed necessary. A temporary flight restriction (TFR) prohibiting drones and small aircraft under 3,000 feet is being put in place daily. Air operations were grounded last week due to two incidents involving civilian drones that potentially endangered firefighting aircraft.
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