More than 300K acres burned in Creek Fire

The 23-day-old Creek Fire pushed past the 300,000-acre-burned threshold over the weekend, but CalFire is gaining ground on the blaze.

The fire has burned 304, 604 acres as of Monday, according to Cal Fire and is 39 percent contained.

The fire burned more than 13,000 acres from Thursday’s report and crews gained five percent on the fire.

While Cal Fire continues to battle the record-setting blaze, authorities are allowing residents, business owners and others to return to the area, but reminds them to do safely. Significant efforts are underway to allow repopulation including restoration of utility services and removal of other hazards, such as dangerous trees.

On the North Zone of the fire, activity will be moderated at the very early portion of the operational period due to to early low humidity in the thirties before it drops later in the afternoon into the teens, according to Cal Fire. There will continue to be slight progresson of the fire towards the northeast near Cattle Mountain. Fire activity will be present in Chetwood Creek, Norris Lake, East Fore Chiquito, and Northeast of Little Shuteye Peak, and south of Whisky Falls.

On the South Zone of the Creek Fire, there will be active fire on the eastern portion of the zone towards the 80 Road and Potter Pass, Cal Fire said. A spot fire south of China Peak that threatens containment and may progress east towards the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness, but has held within control lines. If the fire moves into sparser areas, fuels progression will slow as it moves towards the Ansel Adams Wilderness. There may be a planned firing operation along Kaiser Pass Road, which will cause visible smoke to rise within the fire area.

Increased fire behavior is expected this week because of higher temperatures, more wind and reduced humidity. Hot spots will pop up because of the weather conditions.