Here’s today’s Park Fire intel summary for August 5, 2024.
Things really went to hell today on the Mill Creek portions of the Park Fire. It blew up around noon, and a huge column remained over the fire for almost eight hours.
As of 10:30 pm, it appears the fire has pushed as far east as the Mill Creek Rim east of Big Bend and toward the upper slopes of Turner Mountain, SE of Mineral.
We did a Lookout Livestream from 5-7pm tonight with live intel of the fire as it unfolded. If you want more current info, read on, below. If you want a rambling look at how we got to be in this predicament and some armwaving, irritation, stories, and photography, watch the video.
The fire hasn’t moved a lot in the past week or so with mild winds and reasonable humidities lingering after a pulse of monsoonal moisture from the Desert Southwest came over the area on August 2nd. Yesterday, the fire did not grow in the Deer Creek Watershed, as direct lines upslope, west of the K line bridge kept the fire in check. However, flanking fire continued to spread upcanyon in Mill Creek, and a large spot fire on the South Rim of Mill Creek that became established during the prefrontal run out of Deer Creek on August 1st continued to grow.
Last night’s infrared, taken at 8:45pm, showed that the fire which has been spreading slowly but steadily upcanyon on the north rim of Mill Creek had spread into the bottom of a tributary/gully about 4.5 miles upstream of Black Rock, and was set up in a place where it had alignment to make a large run today, if weather conditions permitted. Weather was drier today than during most of the previous week, and there were steady, though not strong, winds,
Around noon today, the fire made a major run up out of Mill Creek Canyon, headed north. Firefighters have been successfully containing the fire within the canyon using bulldozer lines along the rim of the canyon, but today’s run was unlike any of the recent burning on this part of the fire, and the fire blew up quickly. Several fire engines were entrapped by fire, and one individual was life-flighted out of the area with burn injuries. All the resources on Division Tango Whiskey, many of which had gathered at Drop Point 24, evacuated the fireground around 15:30, hours, and drove out the main road north to Mineral Summit, re-grouping at Highway 36, in Mineral. The fire overran the drop point and made a major run up the south flank of Turner Mountain.
Infrared mapping taken around 15:30 showed the fire well-established across the dozer lines north of the top of Mill Creek Rim, with many spot fires becoming established in young plantations on Sierra Pacific Industries timberlands. The fire grew about 1,500 acres on the north side of Mill Creek from the time the run began until 15:30.
The 15:30 infrared flight also showed major growth to the east on the spot fire on the south side of Mill Creek, near the top of the slope. This spot fire has been burning since August 1st.
Another IR flight, around 5:30pm showed that the fire on both sides of Mill Creek had joined and advanced several miles eastward up the canyon. The many spots in the clearcuts had grown together during the 2 hours between 15:30 and 17:30. Helitankers were working in Gunbarrel Creek, on the SW side of the column as the fire moved to the north. No direct attack was possible on the head of the fire during the course of the afternoon. Between 8pm on 8/4 and 15:30 on 8/5, the fire on the north side of the creek added 1,500 acres while the large spot fire on the south rim grew 180 acres. Between 15:30 and 17:30, the fire added about 2,700 acres.
The fire on the south rim of the canyon pushed up slope towards Onion Summit,. Air tankers were able to work in the clear air along the L-line road at Onion Summit and sought to reinforce dozer lines already built there. However, webcam showed the fire cresting the ridge onto the Mill Creek plateau as the sun was going down, and as of 10:20pm, triangulation from the Colby Mountain and Stover Mountain webcams shows the fire has advanced all the way to the edge of Mill Creek Rim east of Big Bend.
Red fill is 17:30 perimeter. Purple is 15:30 perimeter, red outline is 8/4/24 – 20:45.
Elsewhere on the fire, control lines held and there was no major fire activity. There was no new major spread south of the K Line or North of the Middle Fork of Antelope Creek, or along the Highway 36 corridor, which has been cooling down or cold for nearly a week now.
I continue to feel comfortable that the Dixie Fire scar and extensive salvage logging around Chester and West Lake Almanor will keep the Park Fire from directly threatening homes in these areas. This 2023 satellite image shows salvage logged areas around Chester (salmon color) following the Dixie Fire. Red areas burned severely in the 2021 Dixie Fire. While there hasn’t been as much salvage logging adjacent to Prattville and Almanor, the Dixie Fire reduced forest fuels across broad areas between the Park Fire and these communities, and this should help reduce fire severity in these areas.
After a week of fairly mild burning conditions, today brought drier, hotter, and windier conditions, and the fire responded.
