Updated: 3:20 p.m. Aug. 16

First discovered: 8 days ago, 1:35 p.m. Aug. 8

Initial location: Approximately 5 miles southeast of Big Sur, Monterey County, Calif.

Fire unit: Los Padres National Forest

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Timber Fire

Timber Fire initially started at 1:35 p.m. Aug. 8 about Approximately 5 miles southeast of Big Sur in Monterey County, California.

It has burned 5,103 acres after being active for eight days. As of Sunday afternoon, a crew of 2,067 firefighters succeeded in containing 17% of the fire. There is currently no information on the cause of the fire.

Fuels involved in this wildfire, according to InciWeb: “Fire is burning in the Sobranes Fire scar from 2016. Grass and brush fuel type on the western slopes with a timber understory on the eastern slopes.”. Continue to check for updates to stay informed about containment progress.

More reports from InciWeb:

• Projected incident activity:

“12 hours: Fire growth is expected east and southeast direction. Fire has made its way to the bottom of Logwood Creek. The fire crossed Logwood Creek. Continued progression to the east, northeast is expected. Branch 20 is priority number 1 for the incident, and Branch 50 is priority number 2 for incident. 24 hours: Fire will continue to move towards South Fork of the Big Sur River.”

• Weather concerns:

“High pressure began to build over the Timber Incident overnight compressing the marine layer. As a result higher ridges started off much drier. Lower elevations along Hwy1 remain below the marine layer with lots of humidity and drizzle. Despite the marine layer today will be warmer and drier, especially eastern portions of the fire with highs in the 80s. Coastal locations remain in the 60s to mid 70s. The marine layer will remain moving forward, but become more compressed leading to less humidity recovery at night.”

• Significant events:

“Backing and rollout have continued to spread fire down into the Big Sur River drainage. Observed downslope growth has been slow but persistent. In Logwood Creek, activity has been limited but there is still smoldering material adjacent to open line.”

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 it mean for a fire to be 17% contained?

The percentage indicates how much of the fire perimeter has been surrounded by a control line. In this case, it means that 17% of the wildfire is contained from spreading, while 83% is still uncontrolled.

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