Updated: 11:08 a.m. July 16
First discovered: 1 year ago, 3:29 p.m. June 26
Initial location: 46 miles east of Sanger, CA, near Balch Camp (PG&E Hydro-electric Camp/Community), Fresno County, Calif.
Fire unit: Sierra National Forest
Fire type: Wildfire
Fire name: Basin Fire
Basin Fire initially started 3:29 p.m. June 26 in Fresno County, California.
It has burned 14,023 acres after being active for a year. By Wednesday noon, a crew of 90 firefighters has achieved full containment of the blaze. The cause remains undetermined.
Fuels involved in this wildfire, according to InciWeb: “Tall Grass, Chaparral, Hardwood Litter.”
Incident description
The Basin Wildfire is burning in grass, chapparal and oak timber. It is also burning in steep terrain.
More reports from InciWeb:
• Incident overview:
“On June 24th, 2024 the High Sierra Ranger District of the Sierra National Forest, was in the path of a lightning storm that created 18 fires. An additional fire, and by far the largest, is the Basin Fire which was detected, June 26th, 2024. The fire traveled in a northeast direction toward Black Rock at a rapid rate. Air resources from the surrounding 18 fires on the High Sierra Ranger District were reassigned to the Basin Fire. Aircraft was utilized to slow the rate of spread. The cause of the Basin Fire is currently under investigation. Over a hundred firefighters responded to the Basin Fire. Hot Shots, hand crews, dozers, and engines focused on point protection for structures in the Balch Camp area. Resource orders were placed to mobilize more forces, to not only focus on the initial attack of the Basin Fire, but to also continue suppressing the 18 other fires that are on the district. The fire is at 2000-4500 feet elevation, northeast of Pine Flat Lake, west of the Spanish Mountain, south of Black Rock Rd (11S012) and north of the South Fork of the Kings River.”
• Projected incident activity:
“With 100% fire containment and full firefighter focus on suppression repair within the fire area, we expect this to be the last Basin Fire update.”
• Planned actions on this wildfire:
“Suppression repair efforts will continue throughout the fire area until completed. Firefighters are using heavy equipment and hand tools to return fire areas to as natural a state as practical.”
• Significant events:
“Minimal, Creeping, Smoldering”
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 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: InciWeb