Creek Fire Continues to Grow, Burning over 244,000 Acres

The Creek Fire has been burning since Sept. 4 destroying over 244,000 acres becoming one of the biggest wild fires in California. (Courtesy of Clovis Fire Department)

The Creek Fire continues to burn overnight, with 244,756 acres lost to the flames. 18 percent of the fire remains contained, and 2,878 personnel are fighting against the blaze.

About three million pounds of dead debris per acre is on the forest floor. An acre can be estimated to be a football playing field.

Evacuees can expect to return home if at least 100 to 300 feet off from the fire’s edge can be mopped up.

The fire edge is now at some of those road infrastructures towards Tollhouse. Cal Fire is using the tactic for dozers to get to the surrounding rocks to get to a higher elevation. They are working on getting a direct line, dozer lines, and connecting those dots between natural features-fuel-back to unburned natural features.

Shaver Lake, the southeast winds came in overnight just as expected, which cut back and headed west. There is heavy mopping in that area and with no signs of additional fire spread.

Dinkey Creek did have some fires spread; the tactic is to pull out to the east for a secondary line towards the Rock creek and monitor the fire edge there.

Huntington Lake is still experiencing spot fires; unfortunately, some fires have become active and are slowly consuming the unburned pocket surrounding; no additional damage has damaged infrastructures in the area.

A slow spread towards the south is creeping but has not crossed the fork of San Joaquin River Canyon.

There is a slow intense ground fire going towards the Kaiser wilderness; The values at risk are the grazing lands and Tom Mountain. Cal Fire is keeping close eyes in the area.

There is dense smoke in the lower elevation, and with cooler temperatures, there is a slight improvement with air quality.

The Bullfrog Fire, east of the Creek Fire, is a separate incident but is still ongoing with 900 acres burning.

Tori Lavon is a Multimedia Journalist from Reedley, California. She received her Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcasting from California State University, Fresno. Currently, she is a radio intern at One Putt Broadcasting. On occasion, Tori has the opportunity to be on-air with talent. She is getting her start in media. She has a passion for reporting, photography, and videography. Tori also has a love for art; she loves to draw, paint, and does pottery on the side. One day she hopes she can be on-air talent at a radio station as well.