Creek Fire

CREEK FIRE INCIDENT UPDATE

Date: 09/18/2020 Time: 9:00

INCIDENT FACTS

Incident Start Date: 09/04/2020

 Incident Start Time: 6:33 p.m.

Incident Type: Wildland Fire

Cause: Under Investigation

Incident Location: Both sides of the San Joaquin River near Mammoth Pool, Shaver Lake, Big Creek and Huntington Lake.

Forest/CAL FIRE Units: Sierra National Forest, CAL FIRE Units Fresno-Kings and Madera-Mariposa-Merced

Unified Command Agencies: Great Basin Team 1, CAL FIRE 1, Fresno County Sheriff, Madera County Sheriff

 Size: 248,256

Containment: 20%

 Firefighter Injuries/Fatalities: 0

Expected Full Containment: 10/15/2020

 Structures Threatened: 8,611

Structures Destroyed: 804·

Structures Damaged: 67·

CURRENT SITUATION

Current Situation:

Fresno County: On Friday, the Creek Fire’s South Zone should experience less fire activity this morning than during the previous operations periods.  An overnight weather system brough high level tropical moisture to the fire, increasing cloud cover and humidity and very light showers were experienced in the fire area.  This pattern will linger into Friday morning, and gusty southwest winds return in the morning along with seasonal temperatures, humidity, and local upslope and upcanyon winds. 

While precipitation may occur, it is forecast at less than 1/10th of an inch.  It will reduce fire activity in finer fuels such as grasses and brush but will not affect heavier fuels like timber.  For this reason, as the weather system moves out Friday afternoon southwest winds will increase.  This presents the likelihood that fire in the afternoon into the overnight periods will be more substantial than the daytime.

Last night the fire behavior was centered around Huntington Lake around China Peak.  It will also progress towards Florence Lake and the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness.  It should be noted substantial heat remains in the heavier fuel loads, in which smoldering will be observed until complete mop-up can occur. 

Operationally for the next twenty-four and forty-eight hours, the priority remains increasing containment through perimeter control and direct attack of any open flames and mopping up inside the current fire area.  This will be accomplished through utilizing bulldozers and building new line and improving existing lines.  Where the terrain limits accessibility of bulldozers, hand-crews are assigned to complete this task in Blue Canyon and Sycamore Creek and some portions of the southwest area of the fire. 

Madera County: Weather conditions for today will feature increasing humidity along with the chance for light showers in the region. This humidity will help reduce the volatility of spot fires, and slow progression of the fire in the north and northeastern sections of the fire. This weekend, down-sloping winds and an inversion layer will return once again trapping smoke in lower elevations and valleys.

Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks have all been closed to the public. The Parks were closed due to the unhealthy smoke conditions, and not because of the threat of fire spread. Any remaining visitors in these National Parks will be evacuated today. All visitors and recreationists reported to be in the Forests have been accounted for and have exited the park with no injuries reported.

Work continues on the west flank to fortify contingency lines and to protect assets such as Central Camp and the Bass Lake area. The tactics deployed in this area will provide options for our firefighting operations depending on how the fire reacts to the changing weather conditions in this area.

Preparations continue for the community of Mammoth Lakes as winds push the Creek Fire to the northeast. Management Action Points (MAPs) have been established as virtual lines on the map in relation to fire location. If the fire crosses any of these MAPs, Emergency Officials will enact appropriate actions to protect life and property. All concerned in this specific region can visit the Sierra National Forest Facebook page, or use the following link for information: https://creek-fire-preparedness-monomammoth.hub.arcgis.com

As weather conditions allow air operations to resume, please respect the Temporary Flight Restriction; keep drones away from the fire and firefighting operations. If you fly, we can’t! Don’t be the reason a firefighting air mission has to divert!

Evacuation Map:

The evacuation map of Creek Fire evacuations for Fresno and Madera counties is available online: https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=28ce52cb86bf49dea0adef5a78b3c1b5

Incident Briefing:

The Sierra National Forest will host an Incident Briefing Friday at 7pm via Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/SierraNF/

Damage Inspection:

· Damage inspection teams are evaluating structures; assessments are approximately 78% complete. Madera County Sheriff’s Office is contacting property owners directly. A website is available for Fresno County properties that have been assessed to date: https://calfire-forestry.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=1933470ef8ea4c7e9cede56adf54efe1&extent=-13377356.4387%2C4419677.6073%2C-13142541.8878%2C4523937.7139%2C102100.

Sign Up for Emergency Alerts

Fresno County: https://t.co/Otack9NyKc?amp=1

Madera County: mcalert.org

Mariposa County: Sheriff Office, sign up with Everbridge: msoalert.com

Temporary Flight Restriction: Perimeter runs from South Merced River Fork on the south end of Yosemite National Park, south to Millerton Lake roughly following Route 41, east to King’s Canyon National Park, and north to Inyo National Forest. See: tfr.faa.gov

Evacuation Warnings:

Fresno County: Community of Prather. South of Little Sandy / Lodge Rd. North East of Tollhouse Rd. North of Millerton Rd. / Nicholas Rd. East Auberry Rd.

Madera County: O’Neals, Walker Grade, and Fish Camp. For a complete list of evacuation warnings, see the Sheriff’s website (QR code and complete web address in yellow highlight).

Road Closures:

Fresno County: Prather Roundabout, Tollhouse Road at Pittman Hill Road, Maxon Road at Trimmer Springs Road, Auberry Road at Jose Basin Road, Watts Valley Road at Maxon Road, SR-168 at Lodge Road

Madera County: Road 222 at 229A, Road 222 at Road 235, Road 225 at Road 274, Road 233 at Peckinpah Acres, Road 274 from Beasore Road to Central Camp, Road 632 at Buckskin

Closure updates are listed at: https://www.facebook.com/MaderaSheriff/.

Temporary Evacuation Points:

Fresno County

Clovis North High School - 2770 East International Ave. Clovis, CA

Animal Evacuation Centers:

Fresno County

Small animals – Clovis North 2770 East International Ave.

Large animals – The Fresno Fairgrounds, 1121 S Chance Ave, Fresno, CA 93702, is set up to receive evacuated animals but please contact the Central California Animal Disaster Team (888-402-2238) to make arrangements so animals can be received at the fairgrounds.

Madera County

Small animals – Oakhurst Community Center 39800 Road 425B Oakhurst, CA

Large animals – Producer’s Livestock Facility at Madera Farm Bureau, 1022 South Pine Street, Madera, CA

Damage Assessment Map:

Fresno County and Madera County:

To view an interactive damage assessment map for Fresno County and Madera County, open the following link:

  Fresno County Damage Assessment Map

Missing Persons:

Fresno County Sheriff 559-600-3111

Madera County Sheriff 559-658-2555

National Park Closures:

Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are closed to the public due to smoke conditions.

National Forest Closures:

US Forest Service temporarily closed Southern California Forests, including the Sierra National Forest. Regional Order Number 20-12 Emergency Forest Closure.

Bullfrog Fire Information:

The Bullfrog Fire is burning on the Sierra National Forest but is not related to the Creek Fire. For information about that fire, please check Inciweb: Sierra National Forest Bullfrog Fire

ASSIGNED RESOURCES

Engines: 331

Water Tenders: 84

Helicopters: 18

Hand Crews: 32

Dozers: 76

Other: 757

Total Personnel: 2,978

Air Tankers: Numerous firefighting air tankers are flying fire suppression missions as conditions allow.

Cooperating Agencies:

North Zone: Madera County, Madera County Public Health, Madera County Fire, OES, CHP, National Park Service, PG&E, CDCR, Sothern California Edison, American Red Cross, California National Guard, California Air National Guard.

South Zone: Fresno County, Fresno County Public Health, Fresno County OES, OES, Shaver Lake Fire Department, Bald Mountain Fire Protection District, Auberry Fire Department, Huntington Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Big Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Pine Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, CHP, National Park Service, CDCR, PG&E, Sothern California Edison, American Red Cross, California National Guard, California Air National Guard.

To learn more about wildfire preparedness visit:

www.readyforwildfire.org

• Creek Fire Update for September 18, 2020 (pdf 214 kb)