With the Caldor Fire growing by only another two thousand acres Thursday, the mood amongst fire crews has shifted slightly for the better on Friday.
According to a CAL FIRE update Friday morning, fire activity decreased overnight due to moderate humidity and a decrease in winds. On Friday, crews are working to tie in more control lines and mop up.
"I’ll sum everything up about the incident in two words: cautiously optimistic," said CAL FIRE Assistant Chief Tim Ernst
Crews are still focused on a few key areas where the fire remains a threat, said Ernst, such as North of Highway 50 around Wrights Lake. "We’ve got a structure defense group working that area as well as putting up some contingency lines," said Ernst.
They also covered the area with retardant on Thursday, Ernst added.
Christmas Valley is also still an area of concern, with hundreds of firefighters still battling the blaze Thursday, backed down the ridgeline. "We’re not out of the woods, but we also haven’t seen any growth there as well," he said.
And the zone at Caples Lake around Kirkwood is still active. Crews have been using bulldozers to do contingency work around the lake as well as other strategies, according to Ernst. "Hopefully we can get that closed up as well."
But daily winds and other issues with the terrain mean that things aren’t quite looking up just yet, according to National Weather Service Incident Meteorologist Jim Dudley. “It’s kind of like a sloshing of the air down, and back up, everyday,” he said.
"With this fire spotting half a mile like it’s been doing every day for the last 20 days," firefighters can’t let their guard down, said Steve Volmer, a fire behavior analyst with CAL FIRE.
As of Friday morning, the Caldor Fire was 29% contained and had grown to 212,907 acres.
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