The Siller 37S helicopter submerges the tube to fill it with water to fight the McKinney Fire. [Inciweb photo]
For the first time since the McKinney fire began on July 29, fire managers reported no growth overnight.
The fire, which was burning about six miles northwest of Yreka and about six miles south of the Oregon border, was listed at 60,379 acres Tuesday, with 55 percent containment.
“After 11 days of hard work, firefighters have built an initial line around the entire 80-mile perimeter of the fire,” declared a Tuesday update on Inciweb, the federal fire information website. “The next step for our fire crews is to continue to hold this line through aggressive and thorough mopping with the intent of gaining depth and keeping the fire within its existing footprint.”
In other good news, fire managers reported that the nearby Smokey Fire was 100 percent contained at 34 acres; the 7,886-acre Yeti Fire, burning west of the McKinney Fire near the town of Seiad Valley, was listed as 78 percent contained; and the nearby Alex Fire was 80% contained at 151 acres.
The big news Monday was that crews finally got a line on the northern portion of the McKinney Fire, Dennis Burns, a fire behavior analyst for the California Interagency Incident Management Team, said at a briefing on tuesday morning
The fire is now 100 percent contained, and crews have scrubbed up to 300 feet inland in some places, he said.
Monday “was kind of our midterm exam,” Burns said, with crews facing red flag conditions and winds up to 25 mph, and were able to keep the fire within its footprint.
“(Tuesday) is our final exam. We have gusts of 30-35 mph. … If we get that (Tuesday), we’ll start to see a little more black on the map,” he said, referring to the perimeter areas of the fire map that change from red to black when the fire lines are. considered safe.
“(Tuesday) is our last day of red flag warnings,” Burns added. “If we get it…I’m starting to feel better that we’ll keep it, and that fire will stay where it belongs.”
Contact Mail Tribune Editor-in-Chief David Smigelski at 541-776-4484 or dsmigelski@rosebudmedia.com.
