Creek Fire containment improves to 8%, as blaze approaches 200,000 acres

The Creek Fire that has been burning for more than a week, torching parts of the Sierra National Forest and communities in Fresno and Madera counties, was at 8% containment Saturday night, according to Cal Fire.

Fire officials announced the slight improvement during a nightly video news conference, with the wildfire remaining at the 196,667-acre estimate that was provided earlier in the day.

The fire was at 6% containment and 182,225 acres on Friday night.

Extra help arrived Saturday from within and outside the state, increasing firefighting personnel to 2,301. That’s 500 more than were on the lines a day earlier.

Fire crews who had been battling other wildfires in California were shifted to help with the Creek Fire for the weekend. Firefighters who came from other parts of the country to help also were utilized Saturday.

“The 196,000 acres, that continues to be very small growth for a fire its size,” U.S. Forest Service administrator Dean Gould said. “And I hope you notice how many people are assigned to this incident.

“We are definitely getting the resources we need to get some significant momentum on this.”

More trouble at roadblocks

Three more arrests were made of people who attempted to get around roadblocks.

Those with a pressing need to gain access to homes or businesses they have evacuated were advised Saturday to reach out to incident management teams.

“We have those roadblocks in place for safety reasons,” Lt. Ryan Gilbert of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said. “If you make that decision to drive through our roadblocks, we are going to chase you down and we are going to arrest you.”

Six homes destroyed

Six residences on the Madera County side of the Creek Fire were burned, the sheriff’s office there revealed Saturday.

The locations of the homes were not provided but property owners were notified.

Madera County Sheriff’s deputies still are waiting for additional assessments of homes in the northern area of the fire, near Kinsman Flat.

Also, deputies were compiling a list of vehicles left behind at Mammoth Pool Reservoir, where 200-plus people were airlifted out Sept. 5 after they were unable to evacuate in time when the Creek Fire first intensified.

Some vehicles were untouched by the flames but others were destroyed, according to the sheriff’s office.

Next steps in returning home

Crews are working to get utility companies into the Redinger Lake and Cascadel Woods area in the next 48 hours.

“From a fire standpoint, we feel we can get them up there and get some of that power and other utilities restored,” said Chris Delaney, operations section chief for Great Basin Team 1.

Officials have said that residents won’t be allowed to return to their homes until after utility companies have restored much of their services.

“That’s going to be a long process,” Delaney said of reopening the evacuation zones.

Bass Lake/North Fork situation

The closest stretch of the Creek Fire is about 3 to 3 1/2 miles east of the Bass Lake/North Fork area, Delaney said.

The operations section chief added that two containment lines were established that should prevent the fire from expanding to those areas.

“We still feel extremely confident and have a high probability of success that we will not have to use the secondary containment (off Francis Junction Road),” Delaney said. “But it is there just in case we need it.”

This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Creek Fire containment improves to 8%, as blaze approaches 200,000 acres."