In the Park Fire, nearly a third of the personnel on the entire blaze are battling the head of the fire within the Mill Creek area as it makes a run towards more communities and the Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Overnight infrared imaging shows intense heat remained at the tip of this Northeast finger, which CALFIRE has noted as being the most challenging area to combat this fire.
Updated PIO maps from 1 am this morning show the fire has crossed hwy 172 and reached hwy 36 just outside of Mineral and is reaching the outskirts of the community of Mill Creek.
The fire approaches 430,000 acres and is 34% contained.
There will be a second community meeting in Chester at the Chester Fire Department on Friday, August 9th, at 6:30 p.m. The operations section chief and the incident command will be there to answer your questions and provide an update for the community.
Per Incident Command:
Situation Summary
CAL FIRE:
Firefighters made good progress on the Park Fire overnight. There were fewer spot fires than in previous nights, and firefighters were able to construct direct line in the Mill Creek area. The fuels in this area include significant brush, timber, and understory with limited fire history.
Fire is burning primarily in mature timber stands and dead and down fuels. Firefighters continue to aggressively engage in a direct firefight where possible. They are working in very hot conditions and in steep terrain and deep drainages.
Over the weekend, lower temperatures and higher humidity are expected to limit fire spread in some areas. However, winds are expected to increase which could lead to more wind-driven fire activity.
Repopulations are occurring where it is safe to do so. However, threats remain to several communities in the region.
All evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted in Butte County, while some orders and warnings remain in Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties.
Lassen National Forest:
Last night on the #ParkFire, firefighters held the fire within the planning area through direct action on active fire and tactical firing on indirect lines with the support of night capable aircraft.
Today aircraft and crews will utilize direct tactics to hold the fire within the perimeter and mop-up less active fire areas. Mop-up is a phase of fire suppression that involves removing or extinguishing all burning or smoldering material along containment lines.
An inversion layer is predicted to hover over the fire creating hazy conditions.
The collaborative, risk-informed strategies, and tactics from all our partners are being implemented under unified command.
The #ParkFire has burned 113,022 acres on the Lassen National Forest.
The current acreage is 428,744 in total:
- Butte County: 52,937 acres
- Tehama County: 375,807 acres
Damage Inspection Teams have completed 100% of their assessments.
Between both counties, there are *636 destroyed structures and *49 damaged structures. *The total number destroyed and damaged includes infrastructure.
- Butte County
No damage: 882 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
Damaged: 47 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
Destroyed: 428 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
- Tehama County
No damage: 277 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
Damaged: 5 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
Destroyed: 212 (Residential, Comm, Minor, other structures)
