The Boise Fire has nearly doubled in the last day, with zero percent containment as of Aug. 14, sending an impressive smoke plume over the region and threatening isolated communities along the Klamath River.
鈥淭he winds were in alignment. The fuels are dry. There's heavy fuel loading. All of that combined together created that expansive growth that we saw yesterday,鈥� said Kaleena Lynde with California Interagency Incident Management Team 10.
Lynde said the blaze started in a fuel-rich area of the Six Rivers National Forest on Aug. 9. Some parts of that area haven't burned for the last 100 years, she said, and fuels treatment has been limited due to hard-to-access terrain.
鈥淓ven though there has been some moderate work done as far as logging and thinning and some work done by the forest and the tribes in the area, some of the drainages are just so steep that they hadn't seen any fuels work,鈥� said Lynde.
A weather inversion, which occurs when cold air is trapped below a warmer layer, has kept smoke low to the ground at times and limited firefighting air support due to poor visibility. Although, Lynde said, fires can burn with less intensity during times of inversion, offering firefighters a better chance at approaching from the ground.
More than 600 personnel from local and national agencies are involved in containment, creating fire lines and controlled burns. Fuels remain critically dry in the area, according to a Wednesday incident report. The fire鈥檚 cause is still being investigated.
Evacuation warnings noting a potential threat to life and property from the fire have reached the southern banks of the Klamath River near Orleans, population around 600. The fire is currently around four miles from the community. Those living in the area have limited escape routes in case of emergency and are largely reliant on Highway 96 which hugs the river.
The fire has also burned into the Klamath National Forest, the site of the 15,000-acre Shelly Fire in the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area that was contained earlier this month.
A temporary evacuation point has been established at the Karuk Department of Natural Resources in Orleans. More information on the fire and evacuations can be found on the Facebook page and Facebook page.
