The spread of a fire with an odd name, the Oregon Fire at Weaverville, California, was slowed with the help of a prescribed fire completed eight months earlier. The fire, 30 miles west of Redding, was aggressively attacked soon after it was reported at 4:53 p.m. PDT on August 24 with 16 engines, 9 hand crews, 5 helicopters, 3 dozers, and 9 air tankers, including both DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers, each carrying 11,900 gallons of fire retardant.
The combination of these suppression forces and the fact that the head of the fire burned up against the Five Cent prescribed fire from November, 2013 kept the number of structures burned to only one, even though it was burning in the wildland-urban interface of Weaverville. The fire spotted across the prescribed fire, burning an additional 18 acres before it was stopped.
As of August 28, the fire is listed at 580 acres with 95 percent containment.
Tim Ritchely contributed the above map (we added the text in white and yellow as well as the arrows). He told us:
Flame lengths were observed at 6+ feet in the oak woodland as the fire approached the Five Cent Rx with a rate of spread exceeding 20 chains per hour and then dropped immediately to the ground upon entering the treated areas and basically halted in its tracks… The DC-10s and BA-146 were both used effectively at keeping the fire north of the structures from the ignition point. Helicopters were used east of Weaver Bally road in conjunction with dozers and crews working above the residences until dark.
