Updated: 8:29 a.m. April 22
First discovered: 6 months ago, 3:52 a.m. Oct. 30
Initial location: Horseshoe Meadow Rd x Carroll Creek, 5 miles southwest of Lone Pine, Inyo County, Calif.
Fire unit: inyo National Forest
Fire type: Wildfire
Fire name: Horseshoe Fire 2024
Horseshoe Fire 2024 initially started 3:52 a.m. Oct. 30 in Inyo County.
It has burned 4,537 acres after being active for six months. By Tuesday morning, the fire crew successfully encircled the entire perimeter of the fire in control lines. The cause remains undetermined.
Fuels involved in this wildfire, according to InciWeb: “Sagebrush and timber.”
More reports from InciWeb:
• Incident overview:
“The Horseshoe Fire originally started on October 30, 2024 in a remote location in very rugged and inaccessible terrain approximately 5 miles southwest of Lone Pine, California. Firefighters used a combination of direct hand line and natural features such as rock faces and boulders along the fire’s edge to gain as much containment as possible. Where the fire was not accessible by foot due to hazards and safety concerns firefighters used helicopters to drop water and keep the fire confined to these natural features. Firefighters also constructed contingency line (a fuel break) around the De La Cour Lavender Ranch on Horseshoe Meadows Road, located within the Carroll Creek drainage. The first firefighters that arrived on scene did not see any signs of human activity near the fire and there was no lightning activity in the area. This, paired with the limited accessibility by foot, a fire cause could not be determined. On November 7 the fire was mapped at 6.4 acres, and hotshot crews assigned to the incident continued coordinating water drops by helicopter as necessary. On November 14 and 15, snow fell over the fire area. The fire was contained and controlled, and placed in patrol status on November 16. Although no smoke was showing, fires always have the potential to have small, interior pockets of heat until enough precipitation fully extinguishes it. For the following week, the area continued to show no visible smokes even though two wind events passed during that week’s timeframe. On the evening of November 22, a member of the public reported seeing flames on Horseshoe Meadows Road at 8:19 p.m. and first responders were dispatched to it. Evacuations were issued by Inyo County Sheriff’s Office for Zone 223A, which included the De La Cour Lavender Ranch. Later, evacuations expanded to other areas, Zones 193, 195, and 197. At approximately 3:00 a.m. on November 23, this fire made a significant run downslope from the strong west winds spotting embers in several directions, crossing over Horseshoe Meadows Road and spreading east. By 6:30 a.m. the fire had grown to approximately 4,537 acres. By this time, the fire had significantly slowed its rate of spread and received precipitation on it. Due to the aggressive firefighting efforts and aided by significant precipitation, containment reached 95% by the evening of November 25. The Horseshoe Fire continued to have sections of open fire line in areas completely inaccessible by firefighters due to terrain, and was continually checked on a regular basis for infrared heat and smoke, until it was determined to be 100% contained on January 28, 2025. In the most severely burned areas and steep drainages, safety hazards will also exist for some time, such as debris flows, flooding and rock fall. Due to the se hazards, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office may need to reissue evacuation orders, warnings, or advisories. It is important for residents and visitors to be familiar with the evacuation zones and the READY INYO website: https://ready.inyocounty.us Evacuations and Road Closures: all lifted as of 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 27. The Fire was contained on January 28, 2025.https://protect.genasys.com/https://ready.inyocounty.us/pages/horseshoe-fire.”
• Planned actions on this wildfire:
“Suppression repair and rehabbing of dozer lines was completed on December 9, 2024.”
• Weather concerns:
“None.”
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 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: InciWeb