The lightning ignition was originally detected on June 15, and district fire managers immediately began work to ensure this naturally ignited fire stayed within pre-determined boundaries. Much of the work, including thinning vegetation along containment lines and clearing roads impacted by winter storm damage has already been completed based upon pre-existing prescribed fire plans.

“This lightning strike happened right in an area where we had already done significant planning and prep work,” said Groveland District Fire Management Officer, Pat Laeng. “Assuming weather conditions remained favorable, we had every intention of performing prescribed fire operations on this pre-defined unit in the very near term.”

“Allowing natural fire to spread in areas where it can be safely and effectively managed helps restore natural fire return intervals, increasing forest resiliency and aiding in reducing catastrophic wildfire risk to our communities,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor, Jason Kuiken.

Kuiken noted that every fire – prescribed or wildfire – has a containment strategy developed using a full spectrum of management actions that consider fire and fuel conditions, predicted short- and long-term weather conditions, values at risk, resource availability, land management plans and designations, smoke impacts, and the potential for successful consumption of fuel loads.

“Every management strategy identifies places suppression resources need to prioritize activities based on values at risk. However, containment strategies may include identification of natural barriers or locations where fire could be ecologically beneficial,” said Kuiken. “It should also be pointed out, these burn units, and where the fire started, are within the Rim Fire burn scar which itself acts as yet another containment tool.”

Approximately 80 firefighting resources currently assigned to the near-completed Strawberry Prescribed Fire have been reassigned to the Groveland District to improve existing containment lines within the Cherry North RX Burn units. In addition, fire managers intend to utilize and reinforce existing Forest Service Roads, and utilize Cherry Creek, Reynolds Creek, and Cherry Lake as potential natural containment lines.

Current warming trends that halted operations on the Strawberry Prescribed Fire Project are not having the same impact on the Bone Fire located nearly 2000 feet higher in elevation where temperatures are normally 5 -10 degrees cooler. Conditions will be assessed on a continual basis, and should the fire not meet the objectives of the Cherry North Rx Burn Plan then full suppression efforts will be utilized.

“All told, we’re hoping to complete 961 acres of fuels mitigation,” said Laeng. “All of this is of course dependent on the continued availability of resources, weather, and other critical factors.”