Reaching a milestone in their fight against the Basin Complex blaze, fire officials have little time to celebrate.
Sunday evening, 37 days after the massive fire was sparked by lightning June 21, officials declared the fire fully contained and started sending crews on their way. But the crews aren’t going home. Instead, firefighters are headed to other blazes still burning around the state, including the Telegraph Fire near Yosemite National Park in Mariposa County.
California Conservation Corps member Chris Stidham and Kern County Fire engineer Martin Hernandez pack up gear as firefighters scale down the Basin Complex Fire camp on Monday at Carmel Valley and Tassajara roads. (DAVID ROYAL/The Herald)
“They are off to the battle again,” said David Olson a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. “There’s minimal rest and a lot of work.”
At the peak of the Basin Fire, more than 2,000 firefighters from across the country were working on the blaze as it threatened Big Sur, forced hundreds from their homes and shut down the tourist community for a week between July 2-8.
The fire has scorched 162,818 acres, or 254 square miles, in and around Los Padres National Forest and Ventana Wilderness, destroying 26 homes and 32 other buildings.
“Once you get a fire that is large in size, that magnifies the difficulty of putting it out,” Olson said.
Firefighters also had to work in rugged terrain, complicating their efforts. The east side of the fire was especially difficult to battle because of limited access, high winds and erratic fire behavior.
West Coast 911 firefighting news source – The Monterey County Herald
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