Chips Fire Update September 02, 8:00pm
Incident: Chips Wildfire
Released: 9/2/2012
Announcement: Tuesday, September 4, 2012 10am, Public Fire Camp Tour Spend an hour with us! Come learn about the Incident Management Team and the effort it takes to support over a thousand firefighters for a month! Call the public information lines with questions. Open to all.
Summary: Northern California (NorCal) Interagency Incident Management Team 2 (Joe Molhoek, Incident Commander) assumed management of the incident on 9/1/2012.
At this time the Plumas County Sheriff's Office in coordination of Nor Cal Team 2 has lifted the Mandatory Evacuation for Seneca. Seneca is open to residents only from Hwy. 89 to Seneca and the surrounding area. Seneca Road is not open to through traffic. Please see below for additional Forest Closure information.
Firefighters completed mop up within the fire perimeter and around the community of Seneca. They addressed fire activity in unburned "islands" of vegetation within the fire perimeter, utilizing air support as needed. Suppression repair continues to be an important operational focus and includes repairing roads and culverts, rehabilitating bulldozer lines, and installing water bars to mitigate erosion within the fire area.
Once suppression repair is complete, the Lassen and Plumas National Forests will use the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) process to address emergency soil stabilization actions to reduce the immediate risks of post-fire erosion. Long-term restoration and recovery of burned forest ecosystems are also concerns.
Areas of green vegetation burning inside of the containment line of the Chips Fire continued to bring smoke to the communities near Lake Almanor, Canyon Dam, and Big Meadows.
Evacuations and Closures: All National Forest Campgrounds and Day Use Areas on the west shore of Lake Almanor have been re-opened by the Plumas and Lassen National Forests.
Due to current weather conditions and fire behavior the following Road Closures remain in effect.
Highway Closures
-Caribou Road to Butt Lake Dam from Highway 70
- Rush Creek Road from Highway 70 - Open to residents only.
- All additional secondary roads North of Highway 70 between Rock Creek Dam and Twain from Highway 70
- Seneca Road from Highway 89 - Open to residents only.
- Butt Lake Dam, Ohio Valley Road, Butt Lake Road, Humbug/Humboldt Road and all additional secondary roads West of Highway 89 between Canyon Dam and the Humbug/Humboldt Road from Highway 89
However, both the Plumas and Lassen National Forests continue to maintain Forest Closures within and surrounding the Chips Fire area. The PCT is officially closed from Three Lakes (in the Bucks Lake Wilderness) on the Plumas National Forest northbound to the Cold Spring trailhead at the Humbug Road (Plumas County Road 307) on the Lassen National Forest. Additionally, using the Caribou Road (Forest Route 27N26) is prohibited, as the area is also officially closed. Hikers and equestrians are advised to avoid travel on the portion of the PCT from Bucks Summit, north to Hwy 36.
Additional Fire Information: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3052/ or call (530) 283-3593 and (530) 283-3288 between the hours of 8am to 8pm. Follow us on Twitter@NorCalTeam2 or like us at www.facebook.com/NorCalTeam2.
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