Nightly briefing: Dixie Fire blows through perimeter lines – threatens multiple communities

Where to begin?

It seemed like slow, but steady progress was being made on the Dixie Fire, but the past 24 hours shattered that illusion. Now Greenville, as well virtually the entire Lake Almanor Basin is under mandatory evacuation orders. And it happened quickly. West Shore and East Shore evacuees were being directed to the Chester Memorial Hall, until it too needed to be evacuated.

For days, the bulk of the fire threat was coming from the East Zone of the fire — the Canyon, Meadow Valley and the Indian Valley areas, but the West Zone came alive today with fire pushing into the Almanor Basin to the north and east and Butte Meadows and Tehama County on the west.

The briefing

Tonight’s joint briefing was the first with the new incident management team from the East Zone; the West Zone team remains the same.

The Dixie Fire is reported to be 254,466 acres, and 35 percent contained, with 4927 personnel assigned to it.

If tonight is considered the calm before the storm on the Dixie Fire, there is cause for extreme concern. But that’s what incident meteorologist Ryan Walbrun said during tonight’s briefing — one last night of calm conditions. A Red Flag warning goes into effect at 1 p.m. tomorrow through Thursday at 8 p.m., when a dry, cold front passes through. Walbrun said to expect increasing southwest winds that will be pushing toward the lake, with gusts in the 30 to 40 mph range. Humidity will get down into single digits. The air above the fire will be very unstable. Thursday will bring some north/northwest winds, and then switch to the northeast Thursday night and Friday.

West Zone

Operations Section Chief Mike Wink said there was no change in the lower portion of the fire. A small spot developed in the Snow Meadow area on the southeast side and got to about 3 acres before it was held in check with aircraft. Toward Philbrook and Butte Meadows, Wink reported no change there.

However, getting up into Humboldt on the north side, where areas of unburned fuel caused concern,  some did ignite. The smoke column that built up pushed over the containment line and fire spread outside the pretreated area designed to prevent the spread. Essentially the fire skipped over the top. Wink described the fire as very active in multiple areas. Two spot fires merged and became a 30,000 foot pyrocumulus that further pushed the fire.

Wink reported minimal activity by Butt Valley and Caribou, and reported that the firefighting response is very organized, and crews are focused on containing the perimeter and doing structure protection. However, hazardous conditions are coming that will lead to additional fire growth.

East Zone

Operations Section Chief Kyle Jacobson reported the good news first — there were no issues on the Evans Fire and everything on the south of the fire was doing well. Moving around the map he mentioned that a few challenges remain in the Bucks Lake Wilderness and that crews were working in Meadow Valley today.

In reporting on Greenville, Jacobson said there are a large number of resources in the area and crews have been successful in keeping the fire on the hill above the structures.

In general

Plumas National Forest Supervisor Chris Carlton said it was a bitter sweet day, because while there was a lot more black on the map, which indicates a degree of confidence in approaching containment in those areas, another 15,000 people became impacted by evacuations. He also acknowledged the “challenging weather ahead that will keep testing us.”

Incident Commander Chief Shannon Prather of the Lassen National Forest echoed that thought saying there are a “few hard days ahead of us.” He said he understood how difficult all of this is for evacuees, but encouraged people to leave early. When individuals stay behind it presents additional challenges to firefighters who must prioritize saving a life over structure protection or fighting the fire. It can also put firefighters in increased danger.

He said the fire camp in Westwood would remain open to support operations.

Incident Commander Rocky Opliger thanked the outgoing team and its incident commander, Mike Minton, for the work that they did.

There were few questions answered following the prepared presentation, Wink said that the communities of Magalia, Paradise, and Forest Ranch are considered safe with no indication of fire spread going in that direction. In response to another question regarding Mineral, he said “our modeling for the next 72 hours doesn’t think it will happen.”

As for a question about West Almanor, he said there is increased fire activity, but no reports of any damage in those areas at this time.

Jacobson said that fire has not reached the North Valley Road, but couldn’t answer the other questions that were posed to him because they pertained to the West zone. And no one from the West Zone answered them.

A video taken by Graham Shea, a member of the Plumas County Search and Rescue Team, as the fire crossed Highway 89 near Greenville.