Sequoia National Forest Wood Fire Update

Contact: Wood Fire Information 559-784-1500 [email protected] For Immediate Release Date: June 1, 2018

Acres Burned: 96.5 acres Structures Threatened: 0 Containment: 50% Structures Destroyed: 0 Fire Started: May 22, 2018 Injuries: 0 Cause: Lightning Total personnel assigned to the fire: 50

Summary:

Wood Fire May 31, 2018 Update

(The lighting caused Wood Fire was discovered May 22, at approximately 11:10 a.m. The fire is located in the Domeland Wilderness near Woodpecker Meadow, west of Bald Mountain and south of the Sherman Pass Road. The fire is burning in needle cast and some scattered timber story. Approximately 50 Forest Service firefighters are on the scene.)

Thursday, May 31 was a successful day patrolling and securing the edge of the fire, the fire is holding at 96.5 acres. Firefighters located a spot fire a 1/8th of a mile south of the main fires edge that was 1.5 acres. Hotshot crews were able to get it lined and secured and mopped up.

Fire behavior was active in unburned pockets of fuels, and single tree torching could be seen in the interior, dead and down fuels on the fire are consuming 80-100 percent and as the days go by there will be less and less smoke impact.

Due to its remote location in the Domeland Wilderness, fire crews are working to “confine and contain” the fire. The confine and contain strategy gives crews the opportunity to monitor the fire from a safe distance while allowing the fire to burn naturally within a designated area.

To reduce the impacts associated with fire suppression activities in wilderness areas, fire managers are using MIST (Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics) as much as possible. The steep, rugged terrain of the Domeland Wilderness is inherently treacherous to firefighters.

U.S. Forest Service Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument Voice: 559-784-1500 Web: www.fs.usda.gov/sequoia https://www.facebook.com/sequoianationalforest