Containment of the Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park climbed to 73 percent on Sunday, Oct. 11, as firefighters continued mop-up work and flew all crews out of backcountry camps ahead of forecast rain and possible mountain snow, according to the incident update released Monday.
The fire, which began Sept. 15 about a mile north of Wawona, has burned 6,788 acres. A total of 906 personnel are assigned to the fire, down from 968 on Friday, when containment stood at 61 percent. Of those, 297 are overhead personnel, the managers and support staff in logistics, finance, planning and coordination who work behind the scenes.
“No matter how minuscule your role, the lowest members of the team get an incident action plan every morning to know what’s going on,” said Sean Collins, a public information officer with California Interagency Incident Management Team 4. “There are many different branches but we like to say we operate under one team.”
Firefighters have begun hauling out excess equipment from the wilderness, including about 12 miles of hose, along with pumps, portable tanks, generators and fuel cans. Helicopters, mule trains and ground crews are doing the work.
Rainwater’s role in fire containment
Rain helped, but only so much, said Andrew Lebed, a public information officer with the same team. “Rain does help damp the fire but fuels are heavy and it would take snow to extinguish it.”
A fire that is 73 percent contained is not a fire that is out, Lebed explained.
“Containment does not equal extinguishment. Extinguishment means the fire is out,” Lebed said. “For the vast majority of this fire, this interior area, a lot of this fire will be burning until the snow falls.” The heavy, dead and downed trees inside the fire burn slowly, he said, and putting them out takes time, lower temperatures and precipitation.
On the public information map, the black line marks containment. Operations crews set it based on work on the ground and daily infrared heat-signature images.
“If we left the fire, we feel relatively confident that fire would not spread beyond that line. That is containment,” Lebed said.
The red areas inside the perimeter are still active. “We don’t have the same level of confidence that containment line will hold,” Lebed said. “And so it’s not contained in this area.”
Forecasters expect mostly cloudy skies, fog and light drizzle, with freezing levels between 6,000 and 8,000 feet. Highs are expected to be only in the 30s to lower 40s.
When crews leave
As containment rises, crews can begin releasing helicopters and people, Lebed said, but there is no set schedule.
“After a certain threshold, it depends on what’s going on in the fire. It’s fire dependent. So how’s the fire behaving? Do we still need it?” He said containment was about 40 percent when the current management team arrived.
Even at 73 percent, officials do not yet know when the incident base at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds will begin scaling down.
Helicopters ranging from type 1 to type 3 have played a role in the containment effort. They differ in water capacity, size, number of personnel carried and missions. The Gazette will have more on the aircraft next week.
Glacier Point Road reopened Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 a.m. Officials ask drivers to use caution because firefighters are working along the road.
The Alder Creek Trail is open north to the Deer Camp Trailhead. The Chilnualna Falls Trail is open from the trailhead east to the falls and Crescent Lake. The Buena Vista Trail remains closed, as are all trails inside the active fire footprint, including south and eastbound trails reached from Glacier Point Road. Fire restrictions remain in effect below 8,000 feet in the park because of high fire danger.
The incident update lists the cause as under investigation.
Daily updates, including acreage, containment, personnel and closures, are posted each morning at inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/caynp-dome-fire. The fire information line is (209) 662-7175.
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