This is the strategy being used to manage the Redwood Fire
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A confine and contain strategy is being used to manage the Redwood Fire in the Sequoia National Park near Redwood Meadow, fire management staff and park leadership announced.
The lightning-ignited fire is currently 75 acres in size and burning at low intensity up a steep, forested slope. Officials say it currently poses no threats to life or property.
The Redwood Fire, discovered on Aug. 15, was one of seven fires ignited by lightning throughout the parks during August and is the only one of those that has shown any significant growth potential thus far. Thanks to the previous rain, moisture in the living vegetation has moderated fire behavior in the dense forest stand.
Officials say the confine and contain strategy aims to ultimately suppress the fire within a larger footprint using a combination of natural and manmade barriers. This allows the park to limit the duration of smoke impacts, lessen the possibility of major changes or escalations in fire behavior, reduce unnecessary risk, and utilize firefighting resources that are currently available.
Fire managers in the park have identified a containment area of approximately 3000 acres, bordered by features including the Cliff Creek Trail, Granite Creek, and large rocky areas to the east. The area in which the Redwood Fire is burning had already been identified by the parks as a high priority for fuel reduction, as it would provide protection for three groves at risk of catastrophic fire.
Fire managers say they plan to use a combination of hand and aerial ignitions to moderate fire behavior through areas with heavy fuel loads. The parks will continually evaluate current and anticipated fire behavior and are prepared to shift course if appropriate.
“Right now, we have better conditions than we’ve had in years to work with fire on the landscape,” said Superintendent Clay Jordan. “A confine and contain suppression strategy for the Redwood Fire is our opportunity to put the devastating lessons learned from the Castle Fire and the KNP Complex into practice. It is our responsibility as land managers to work with fire when we can, in order to prevent catastrophic losses like we saw in those fires.”
Smoke from the Redwood Fire is very visible from high vantage points throughout the Giant Forest and Lodgepole areas, including Moro Rock, according to officials. Smoke impacts from the fire can be expected in the foothills of Sequoia National Park and the community of Three Rivers. To learn more about fire, click here.
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