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Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/01/2014 03:32 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/01/2014 03:50 PM
Expires: 01/01/2019 12:00 AM
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King Fire Update...Still Lots of Work to Do; Closures Still in Place
We’re approaching full containment, but crews still have lots of work to do and we’ve been getting many questions about why certain areas are still closed. During this phase of the firefighting effort, crews are BACKHAULING EQUIMENT… At the peak of the incident we had about 350 MILES of hose laid through the fire...
• MOPPING UP… Working along the perimeters to extinguish any residual spots of heat (we can’t reach every bit of land in the interior, so pockets well within the containment lines will continue to smolder for quite a while)
• CHIPPING SLASH AND DEBRIS… They removed a lot of vegetation while constructing containment lines; now they need to remove it so it doesn’t become a fire hazard. Plus, the chips can be distributed across the forest floor to help absorb rainwater into the damaged soils and give Mother Nature a “jump start” on what will be a lengthy healing process.
• CONSTRUCTING WATER BARS… They build mounds that resemble “speed bumps” to help divert future rainwater runoff.
• And REMOVING HAZARD TREES… severely burned, barely-standing trees that could easily fall into roads and heavily trafficked areas
FACTOR IN ALL THIS WORK, AND THINK ABOUT SAFETY… We have gotten lots of questions about why areas remain closed.
We still have a couple thousand personnel out there working along roads, using heavy equipment, and driving lots of vehicles in and out of the area. Increased traffic in any of these areas could impede their efforts and put the public AND THE FIREFIGHTERS at additional risk, not to mention the ongoing hazard of falling trees and debris.
Some roads and areas are closed even though they weren’t directly affected by the fire because they lead to – or have tributaries that lead to – hazardous areas, and/or they’re heavily trafficked by firefighting personnel.
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