Updated: 3:04 p.m. May 15

First discovered: 24 hours ago, 2:06 p.m. May 14

Initial location: Road 602 and Madera Canal, Madera, Madera County, Calif.

Fire unit: Cal Fire Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Acres Fire

Acres Fire initially started 2:06 p.m. May 14 in Madera County.

After being active for 24 hours, it has burned 631.9 acres. A fire crew of 70 managed to contain the blaze entirely as of Thursday afternoon. The fire’s cause remains under investigation.

11 engines, two water tenders, three helicopters and two dozers have been battling the fire. According to Cal Fire, “Numerous firefighting air tankers from throughout the State are flying fire suppression missions as conditions allow.”

Cal Fire status update

Situation Summary

Firefighters are at scene of a grass fire in Madera acres area in the County of Madera on the Local Responsibility area and State Responsibility area boundary line. Crews continue to make good progress building containment lines and going direct on the fires edge.

See live video from the area:

Https://ops.alertcalifornia.org/cam-console/Axis-RedTop2

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 wildfire has been fully enclosed 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: Cal Fire