Bishop - Fort Fire almost extinguished

The Fort Fire sent up an ominous looking plume of smoke Thursday afternoon as 60-foot flames devoured sagebrush near the Lower Owens River south of Big Pine. Photo by Mike Gervais

From U.S. 395 near Bishop on Thursday, the tornado-like column of thick black clouds looked like a heavy downpour from the recent storm in the southern part of the county.
South of Big Pine, near the Black Rock rest area, it was obvious that the black plumes were rising from a fire at the base of the Inyo Mountains, east of the Black Rock Springs area. The flames appeared massive from the highway, fueled by heavy winds out of the south, and looked like a structure fire in the middle of the dry pastures amongst the curving lower Owens River.
Battalion Chief and Public Information Officer for CalFire Doug Lannon said Friday that there were reports of flames reaching 75 feet tall, with sustained flames 20-25 feet tall.
“It’s a very interesting place for a fire,” Lannon explained. “There’s a lot of vegetation, rabbit brush, salt grass, sage, and other heavy fuels, and they are very dry, so the low moisture content makes (the plant’s) oil content higher and more concentrated, which creates a hotter, intense flame and thicker black smoke, resembling what looks like a structure fire.”
The winds Thursday were sustained at 25-30 miles per hour with gusts approaching 50 mph, according to Lannon. At one point the fire became so intense with gusting, shifting winds, that a crew of firefighters were forced to retreat to a designated safety area, but, once the flames and wind died down, they were able to return to the front lines of the blaze, Lannon explained, adding that he “did not know the particulars of that incident.”

Three CalFire firefighters map out a plan of action Thursday afternoon as gusty winds drove the sporadic Fort Fire. Rains Thursday evening and Friday morning helped quell the blaze, which is expected to be fully contained this weekend. Photo by Mike Gervais

Lannon reported that the winds “were relatively calm” Friday morning and the increased humidity and light rain is assisting firefighters on containing the blaze.
What officials are calling the “Fort Fire,” due its proximity to Fort Independence, has consumed approximately 1,500-2,000 acres with 70 percent containment. He said a UH-IH Super Huey helicopter from CalFire, Riverside County will be on site Friday to map the area for a more accurate reading of the coverage area and containment.
Lannon said that there were 10 engines, a bulldozer and six hand crews with approximately 185 personnel on the fire as of press time Friday. The suppression effort included crews from CalFire, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Redlands Fire Department from San Bernardino County and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns the property, supplying water tenders.
Terri Sutton of the Independence Fire Department said they received the initial call at 11:56 a.m. and had several units on the scene battling the blaze. Sutton said they then called in Big Pine.
John Marzano, Big Pine fire chief, said his crew was on scene Thursday for about four hours, protecting the Black Rock Fish Hatchery structures, just in case the fire changed direction.
With the high winds and heavy fuels, the fire was expected to reach 4,000-6,000 acres and plans for an incident command center at the Tri-County Fairgrounds were being scheduled, but Lannon said, “all of a sudden the fire seemed to stop” Thursday night. The command center has since been cancelled.
Sutton agreed that Thursday night around 7 p.m. they were released from the fire. “It was this really big fire and then, boom, it died down,” he said.
Chris Plakos, public information officer for LADWP, said Friday that the department’s crews were on scene with water trucks and bulldozers helping the fight.
He also said that LADWP crews have been conducting controlled burns in the area, destroying piles of collected salt brush. He said that crews did not burn Thursday because of the wind, but did burn Wednesday at an area approximately three miles away from the Fort Fire.
Lannon said fire investigators will be on scene Friday to try and discover the cause of the fire.