Updated: 7:02 a.m. Sep. 15

First discovered: 3 years ago, 11:36 p.m. May 29

Initial location: Los Angeles County, Calif.

Fire unit: Angeles National Forest

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Blue Fire

Blue Fire initially started 11:36 p.m. May 29 in Los Angeles County, California.

After being active for three years, it has burned one acre. By Monday morning, a crew of 20 firefighters has achieved full containment of the fire. The cause of it is still under investigation.

More reports from InciWeb:

Incident overview:

“At approximately 6:36 p.m., Angeles National Forest Dispatch received a call about possible smoke in the forest. Staff located a 50-foot x 50-foot spot on fire along the edge of the Angeles Crest Highway (State Hwy. 2), near Inspiration Point. Resources arrived on the scene and quickly cut a fire line around the burning area. A helicopter has dropped water on the fire multiple times. Excellent progress is being made to put the fire out quickly. Cooperators include: Los Angeles County Fire Department and San Bernardino County Fire Department. As of 9 p.m. on May 30, the Blue Fire was 100% contained with a fire line dug by hand by firefighters around it. Firefighters through the night into the morning in heavy fuels to extinguish or remove burning materials and to ensure that burning materials won’t roll away from the burned area. As of 12 noon on May 31, the Blue Fire was placed in patrol status. U. S. Forest Service staff will patrol through and check the area for the next 2-3 days.”

Please note that this incident overview is an automatically published and unreviewed quote from InciWeb. Therefore it might be incomplete, hard to read or include misspelled words.

Fire containment

What does 100% containment mean?

Note that full containment doesn’t mean the fire is completely out. In this case, it means that the whole perimeter of the wildfire has been surrounded by a control line and it is now stopped from spreading. A fully contained wildfire may continue to burn within the containment perimeter but is not likely to spread.

However, there’s a significant difference between containing and controlling a wildfire. After the fire is fully contained, the next step is to control it. Controlling a fire means ensuring that the fire can’t spread or cross the containment line.

Containment is part of a larger plan for managing a wildfire. It is normally expressed as a percentage and it refers to how much of the fire perimeter has been surrounded/enclosed by a control line that firefighters create. The containment percentage indicates a certain level of control, but it doesn’t always correlate to safety level. Also, it’s important to note that containment doesn’t mean a fire is out.

How is containment measured?

The incident’s central command constantly receives progress reports from firefighters on the ground. As the fireline is constructed, inspected or reinforced, mappers record those details to adjust the containment percentage. The percentage tells the public how much of the fire perimeter is believed to not go beyond the control lines.

Source: InciWeb