Document text
McKinney Fire 80% contained By Nick Morgan Updated: Aug 12, 2022 01:41 PM A A A member of a hand crew with Alpine Wildfire Services does mop-up work on the McKinney Fire near Mill Creek Road. The fire burning in Siskiyou County, California, is 80% contained. [Inciweb photo] Assistance center available for residents impacted As crews in northern California strengthen lines on the McKinney Fire burning just south of the Oregon border, officials are getting a better understanding of the destruction left in the wake of the wildfire’s more than 60,000 acres. The McKinney Fire is now 80% contained and held steady at 60,389 acres overnight, according to Friday updates from Klamath National Forest and Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit. Siskiyou County Office of Emergency services has confirmed 185 structures destroyed — including 118 homes — since the fire broke the afternoon of July 29. A local assistance center will open this coming week with resources for those impacted by the fire from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 17 and 18, at College of the Siskiyous Rural Health Sciences Institute, 2001 Campus Drive, Yreka. Four civilian deaths have been recorded since the fire was first spotted at 2:15 p.m. July 29 on the Oak Knoll Ranger District of Klamath National Forest. The cause currently is under investigation. The fire isn’t expected to grow Friday, fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns with California Interagency Incident Management Team 2 said in a morning video update. That’s due in part to favorable weather conditions, such as a reduction in wind gusts compared with previous days and a relative humidity ranging between 13 and 20%. Some 2,459 personnel are working the fire, according to the Forest Service. Crews are using those conditions to “aggressively mop up” the fire Friday, Burns said. Although the fire isn’t producing much smoke, there’s still “significant heat” coming from the north end of the fire. “Think of it like a barbecue, a pit full of coals — It doesn’t produce a lot of smoke, but there’s a lot of heat,” Burns said. “The concern is that we get gusty winds; it picks up those embers — or a fire whirl or a dust devil picks up those embers and carries them across the lines.” “Crews are on a search-and-destroy mission to try and find those.” Crews use infrared to identify and mark hot spots, but the ones deep inside the uncontained portion of the fire zone remain a challenge because it’s not yet safe to deploy firefighters inside. Fire officials updated their footprint for the nearby Gorge Fire — which broke Thursday afternoon southwest of the McKinney Fire — to 14 acres. Crews previously estimated the fire fully lined Thursday night at closer to 20 acres. A portion of Highway 96 reopened Thursday to people who live in the area between Beaver Creek and Kohl Creek, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office. Motorists are advised to check CalTrans for the latest road conditions and closures at roads.dot.ca.gov . Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.