Crews continue to battle several fires burning around Los Angeles County, with the massive Palisades Fire creeping up to 8% containment and the Eaton Fire reaching 3% containment as of Friday morning.
But what do those figures really mean? Retired L.A. County Fire Captain Derek Bart joined KNX News to explain.
“Any time people listen or watch, they see a fire progressing, so it’s going from zero acres to five to 10, 15, right?” he explained. “Our goal is to get lines around it and contain that fire, stop the forward progress.”
For example, a 100-acre fire is considered contained when crews are able to hold it at 100 acres with no further growth. The area inside those containment lines, however, could still be burning.
If a fire is, say, 25% contained, that means crews have established control lines around 25% of the fire’s perimeter to stop it from advancing.
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In normal conditions, firefighters would be able to follow a fire up a hill and surround it with lines on both sides to stop the progress. But Bart said this week’s fires have been “like playing whack-a-mole,” with erratic winds making it impossible to put the fires out as they grow.
“You don't have enough resources in the state, you don’t have enough water, you don’t have enough aircraft to stop such a dynamic incident as this,” he said.
The strong Santa Ana winds battering the region are expected to diminish on Friday afternoon, but dangerous fire conditions will continue through next week.
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