Updated: 10:03 p.m. June 15

First discovered: 4 days ago, 4:17 p.m. June 11

Initial location: South side of East Park Reservoir near Lodoga Stonyford Road and Sites Lodoga Road, Colusa County, Calif.

Fire unit: Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Ford Fire

Ford Fire initially started 4:17 p.m. June 11 in Colusa County.

Since its discovery four days ago, it has burned 14 acres. The fire crew managed to contain the fire entirely as of Sunday evening. The cause of it remains under investigation.

Among other resources, an engine has also been deployed to fight the wildfire. 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

Forward progress of the fire was stopped around 6 p.m. Wednesday, two hours after it started. Ground access to it was very difficult as it was in a remote location along the southern side of East Park Reservoir. A coordinated air attack with air tankers and one helicopter helped to keep the fire in check while the fire engines, hand crews and dozer worked on making access.

The Boggs Mountain Helitack Crew deployed six firefighters and one fire captain on the ground during the initial attack on the fire. They were the first on the fire and were able to cut a line all the way around it before the engines and hand crews were able to make access. Once all ground resources arrived at the edge of the fire, they continued strengthening control lines and mopping up in the interior of the fire.

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