Updated: 5:17 a.m. Oct. 14

First discovered: More than a month ago, 1:15 p.m. Aug. 26

Initial location: 4 miles southeast of Seiad, Siskiyou County, Calif.

Fire unit: Klamath National Forest

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Blue Fire Klamath National Forest

The wildfire initially started 1:15 p.m. Aug. 26 in Siskiyou County, California.

The wildfire has burned 3,713 acres after being active for more than a month. As of Tuesday morning, a fire crew of 108 successfully contained the entire fire. It is still undetermined what caused the fire.

Fuels involved in this wildfire, according to InciWeb: “The entire footprint lies within a 2014 burn scar, characterized by heavy snag patches and brush in previously burned areas. Fuels in the fire area consist of grass, shrubs, timber litter, and timber understory, with Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, and Tan Oak as the primary tree species. Shrub components include Manzanita, Ceanothus, and other hardwoods.”

More reports from InciWeb:

• Incident overview:

“On the evening of August 26, 2025 the Blue Fire ignited in the area of Blue Creek on the south side of the Klamath National Forest, just west of the Klamath River, 4 miles south of Seiad, California. CLOSURES: For official map and official Forest closure information around the Blue Fire, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath/alerts/blue-fire-closure-order.”

• Projected incident activity:

“12 hours :Rain showers will continue into early Wednesday evening followed by a brief break with thickening clouds. Temperatures will be in the low 40’s and humidity will rise to around 90%. Winds will be southerly 2-4 mph. 24 hours :Expect light scattered showers throughout the day Thursday.Temperatures will be around in the mid-50 to low 60 degrees. RH will be 50% to 70%. Winds will be light out of the South. 48 hours :Friday will be begin a sunny trend. Maximum temperatures will be around 65 degrees with humidity dropping to around 40%. Winds will be light from the West. 72 hours : Clear skies on Friday look to be a return to warm and dry conditions. Temperature should rise to the mid 60’s with humidity near 40%. Winds will be light becoming North 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. Anticipated after 72 hours :Clearing skies with an easterly flow will develop over the weekend with seasonable warm and dry conditions predicted through next week.”

• Planned actions on this wildfire:

“Firefighters will continue mop-up and suppression repair, with crews focused on extinguishing residual heat, removing hazard trees, and cold trailing along control lines. Suppression repair activities with various types of heavy equipment are underway across the fire in coordination with Resource Advisors.”

• Weather concerns:

“Light rain showers occurred overnight and into the morning. Partial clearing with sun breaks showed in the early afternoon with more clearing later in the day. Temperatures peaked around 65% with RH dropping to around 65%. Winds remained light throughout the day with a southerly component. Early morning clouds, on Thursday, will transition ahead of low-pressure that will bring light showers, late day through Thursday evening. The last shower will taper off around 7 AM Friday. A modest warming and drying trend will follow Friday into next week.This will include light to breezy east to northeast winds and moderate ridge top humidity recoveries beginning on Sunday night and likely continuing into Tuesday.”

Please note that these reports are automatically published and unreviewed quotes from InciWeb. Therefore they 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 firefighters have managed to get a line completely around the wildfire’s perimeter 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