Updated: 9:51 p.m. May 22

First discovered: 9 hours ago, 12:30 p.m. May 22

Initial location: Cripple Creek Road and Feenstra Road, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

Fire unit: Cal Fire San Luis Obispo Unit

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Creston Fire

Creston Fire initially started today at 12:30 p.m. in San Luis Obispo County.

After being active for nine hours, it has burned 14 acres. As of Thursday evening, the fire has been fully contained. The cause of it is still under investigation.

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

The Creston Fire is 100% contained with total acres burned at 14 acres. All units are available.

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: Cal Fire