FRESNO COUNTY – Large columns of smoke billowing out from the foothills against an otherwise clear blue sky offered those on the Valley floor a visual reminder of the fire burning through the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno County.
In a Sept. 7 update, officials said these smoke columns from the Garnet Fire can be attributed to two things. First, the fire is burning aggressively up the hills in the Turtle Creek area at the bottom of a south-facing slope. Second, there are spot fires burning in the Fence Meadow Lookout area, one of which was deliberately set by crews to protect the infrastructure.
For those who live in the Shaver Lake and Tollhouse areas who have been “terrorized by fire” in the past, California Interagency Incident Management Team 10 Operations Section Chief Gino DeGraffenreid acknowledged that it is an uncomfortable situation to see that smoke.
“But I want you to rest assured, our primary line is in place,” DeGraffenreid said. “We’ve ordered additional resources that are arriving in the next few hours, and we’ve shifted the resources that we already have — those resources include fire engines, bulldozers, crews, very large airtankers. That’s just the beginning of what is on its way.”
DeGraffenreid said that the fire deliberately set by crews is “good fire,” meaning it’s favorable and being drawn away from the lines that were pre-built for this exact situation. With that opportunity, crews are extending the fire north along the dozer line.
“They’re having favorable conditions and favorable consequences, but that’s resulting in a large column of smoke,” he said.
On Sunday, DeGraffenreid said crews saw a giant uptick in fire activity near Dinkey Creek, which is under an evacuation order from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. The fire crossed Dinkey Creek at some point early Sunday morning or late Saturday night, officials said, and found a drainage area full of fuels.
Team 10 Incident Commander Joe Sean Kennedy said they knew the fire would cross Dinkey Creek eventually, but when that would happen they couldn’t exactly know. The crossing over the weekend was not expected but crews had resources in place to respond.
Kennedy said that with the FSO evacuation order, all non-essential firefighter personnel that were at Dinkey Campground and the Dinkey Mill site were evacuated to the Shaver Lake area “out of an abundance of caution.”
In a video posted to social media by the U.S. Forest Service on Sept. 8, low-intensity fire could be seen within the McKinley Grove of the giant sequoias. The USFS said preparations had been made in advance of the incident to protect the sequoias; however, embers from the fire did become lodged in some of the branches of multiple trees.
The post said crews remained in the grove to defend it until it was unsafe to do so. Smokejumpers have been called in to attempt to climb the trees and extinguish the embers. The USFS said water drops on the sequoias have the potential to damage tree branches and are unlikely to be able to penetrate the dense canopy of the grove to reach the embers.
Dean Gould, forest supervisor for the Sierra National Forest, offered a big-picture understanding of the Garnet Fire.
“This incident has varied day-to-day, you know that,” Gould said. “The weather, the winds, the behavior. Sometimes it’s been very moderate, sometimes it’s been aggressive.”
Gould said on Sept. 7 that the topography was lining up with the weather, causing aggressive conditions and allowing the fire to make a surge, particularly toward the north.
He said the east and south sides are looking very good while the west and north sides are proving to be much more challenging. Despite difficulties, however, Gould said the fire is moving directly toward the primary firebreak line that has been the plan for some time.
As of the afternoon of Sept. 8, the fire was 14% contained and burning just under 55,000 acres, according to Cal Fire’s incident tracker.
Evacuation orders are in place for Fresno County zones K27, K28, K29, K30, K31, K32A, K40, K61A and K66. Zones under an evacuation warning include K26, K60, K61B, K76, K165, K32B, K41, K74, K85 and K160.
The most current evacuation areas and road closures can be found on the Fresno County Emergency website. Residents and visitors to Fresno County can also sign up for emergency alerts online through Everbridge. Individuals signed up who are in the vicinity of the evacuation zones will receive alerts for updates to the evacuation map.
