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ANNOUNCEMET: Some Six Rivers National Forest lands, roads, and trails around the Smith River Complex fires are closed. View the Order and closure map on the Forest’s website: tinyurl.com/4atens8c.
 

CURRENT SITUATION: The fire is being held within the containment lines and total containment increased to 93% with the total acres burned at 94,618. With the warmer and drier conditions, plus the wind over the last few days, the fire has been tested and has held within containment lines. Yesterday, was the last flying day for the firefighting UAS (unmanned aircraft system) and they have been extremely helpful in locating occasional hot spots. The UAS has flown 20 missions and logged more than 5 hours of flight time on this incident. Heat signature information has been relayed to fire crews, and they continue to extinguish those hot spots and interior smokes. Crews remain vigilant and continue to assess the fire from the ground and air as the fire areas dry out and accessibility improves.

Crews will continue with extensive suppression repair and hazard tree abatement work before the rain comes on Sunday night/Monday morning. Firefighters have almost secured the fire line around the Hurdy Gurdy Fire. Some heat signatures were spotted by the IR (infrared) flight last night, but they are well within the burn areas. Water bars are being constructed near primary containment lines to prepare for this rain event. Machine work and hazard tree removal is occurring along the 17N49 road as well as south of US199 near Little Jones Rd (17N08). Additional work continues on US199, the 405 road and the French Hill area. Great suppression repair work has occurred on the 05 and 08 roads with just a small amount of work left. Major chipping operations continue throughout all repair areas. Crews have made significant progress with suppression repair work in Gasquet (17N69), Steven’s and Smith River repair areas with possibly a few more labor-intensive workdays. During this window of drier conditions, the soil will continue to dry out and crews will continue to look for any additional target areas for suppression repair. Positive attitudes, hard work and diligent focus by firefighters continues. Long hours spent by heavy equipment operators and crews on the ground continues as everyone tries to maintain the cultural and natural resources of the area.

WEATHER: Temperatures today and tomorrow will be cooler than this past week and rain is expected Sunday evening and into Wednesday. An inch to two inches is predicted to fall during that time.
CLOSURES: While county roads remain open, some Six Rivers National Forest lands, roads, and trails around the Smith River Complex fires are closed (Forest Order No. 10-23-12). View the Order and closure map on the Forest’s website: tinyurl.com/4atens8c.

US 199 in Del Norte County will be piloted between Grassy Flat Campground east of Gasquet and Oregon Mountain Road. Motorists should anticipate some delays. Caltrans provides information on current highway conditions online (roads.dot.ca.gov), by phone (800-427-7623), and on Facebook (facebook.com/CaltransD1).