Updated: 12:09 p.m. Dec. 19

First discovered: 4 months ago, 12:10 a.m. Aug. 24

Initial location: Fresno County, Calif.

Fire type: Wildfire, Type 4

Fire name: Garnet

Garnet Fire initially started 12:10 a.m. Aug. 24 in Fresno County, 3 Miles Se From Balch Camp.

After being active for four months, it has burned 59,844 acres of federal land managed by the United States Forest Service. As of Friday noon, the blaze has been fully contained by a fire crew of 37. The cause of the fire is believed to be of natural origin. So far, the cost for managing the fire amounts to $189,284,476.

Timber, litter and understory vegetation are the main fuels driving this wildfire.

NIFC Fire Complexity Analysis

This wildfire is considered to be a Type 4 incident. What it means:

• Command staff and general staff functions are not activated.

• Resources are local and vary from a single module to several resources.

• The incident is usually limited to one operational period in the control phase.

• No written incident action plan (IAP) is required. However, a documented operational briefing will be completed for all incoming resources.

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: National Interagency Fire Center