‘Fighting fire with fire,’ crews preparing to launch 36-hour burning operation to battle Gifford Fire
Dave Alley
SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. – As the Gifford Fire rages on for an 11th straight day, crews are preparing to launch a new operation Monday in San Luis Obispo County to the help in the effort to gain the upper hand in the battle against the biggest wildfire in California this year.
“Essentially what we’re doing is we’re fighting fire with fire,” said Rich Eagan, Gifford Fire Public Information Officer. “We’re going to be starting fire to hopefully engage it to the burn area currently and protect the Garcia Wilderness area.”
The firing operation is scheduled to take place over a 36-hour period weather permitting.
“We’ll have helicopters,” said Eagan. “We’ll have drones and we’ll actually have hand crews as well. That is the game plan at this point.”
According to a Los Padres National Forest release, the goal of the operation will be to reduce vegetation ahead of the main fire, depriving it of fuel and increasing the likelihood of containment.
Forest officials added the operation will take place along the north perimeter using established control lines, ridges, and roads around the Garcia Wilderness, with aerial ignitions planned for steep, inaccessible areas such as Pine Ridge.
Additional information said holding crews will work directly behind ignition teams to keep the fire within containment lines, while night-flying helicopters and water-dropping aircraft will assist ground crews as needed.
Firefighters are eager to clamp down on the Gifford Fire, especially since it has now burned into the Garcia Wilderness, a 14,100 acre wilderness area located in the Los Padres National Forest east of the San Luis Obispo.
“It’s got a heavy fuel because there’s no burn history in that area,” said Eagan. “In other words, it’s neve had a recorded burn in that area, so usually when you go out on incidents and fires, you have previous history to do your tactics and strategies on. We don’t have that on this one, so we’re basically making our own footprint, so to speak.”
As of Monday morning, the fire has burned nearly 120,000 acres, and has caused evacuation warnings and order to expand into more populated areas, so the firefighting strategy is beginning to become more aggressive.
“It is this is a critical time,” said Mark Ruggiero, Gifford Fire Information Officer. “That’s why we’re getting so many resources in that part of the fire because we’re going to hit it with everything. We have to try to divert it and stop it from getting any larger. Keep in mind that when we do these types of operations, we’re putting fire on the ground to meet fire, so it may look like there’s more fire and there is, but that’s how we fight fire. Our goal is the next 24 to 36 hours is to see if we can get these contingency lines into the north, and get the lines in and do our burning operation and secure that into the fire. I believe that once we secure that northern end of the fire around the Garcia mountain Wilderness, Avenales Ranch Road, Pozo area that will be looking a lot better. and the public will have a good idea that it’ll be a lot safer.”