The Record Searchlight (Redding, California)
REDDING, Calif. — As firefighters gained the upper hand Friday on wildfires that have scorched fire-ravaged Trinity County, officials investigating a deadly helicopter crash northwest of Junction City say the cockpit voice recorder suffered heat damage that’s complicating efforts to extract information from the device.
Nine people were killed and four people injured when the firefighting aircraft went down in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest last week.
National Transportation Safety Board officials said Friday the recorder will be sent next week to England, where the device’s British manufacturer will help investigators try to recover recordings that could shed light on what caused the crash.
The agency says a team of investigators is in Portland, Ore., this week to examine the chopper’s two engines, which were taken there after being recovered from the wreckage.
Meanwhile, U.S. Forest Service officials said Friday that they’re gaining on the stubborn Eagle and Buckhorn blazes that have been threatening the tiny Trinity County town of Big Bar.
Crews are holding lines on the 31,545-acre Eagle Fire, said Richard Hadley, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.
Cautiously optimistic officials say they believe crews have stopped that blaze from reaching Big Bar. The Eagle Fire was listed at 77 percent containment Friday morning.
Steep mountainsides, narrow canyons and a power line made fire line construction and burnouts extremely difficult on the Eagle Fire, Hadley said, ranking the operation a 9.8 on a difficulty scale of 10. He thinks containing the 24,098-acre Buckhorn Fire will rate a 7.5.
Crews have burned a 300-foot-wide fire containment line down Manzanita Ridge between Big Bar and Big Flat to stop the Buckhorn, which was 40 percent contained on Friday, from backing south. That “black line” ended about a mile north of Highway 299 on Friday. Crews plan to bring the line down to the road tonight, Hadley said
Fire officials hope to take advantage of relatively calm weather under a fairly moist monsoonal flow to burn fuel in the fire’s path on the ridge behind homes in Big Bar.
A dry cold front expected early next week could bring dry north winds afterward, Hadley said. Those winds could fan flames.
“If we did nothing at all, the fire would come in from the north and burn that fuel,” Hadley said. “We would rather do it now when it’s calm than have the fire forced by the wind.”
The burnouts ignited to combat the Eagle and Buckhorn blazes have chewed through brush and understory, leaving most of the trees, said Hadley.
“People on the south side of the (Trinity) river are feeling pretty happy with the results,” he said. “We’re hoping we can relieve the apprehension of the folks on the north side over the next 48 hours.”
Here is the status of fires burning in the north state:
Iron-Alps complexes
Location: Northwest Trinity County.
Cause: Lightning, June 21.
Approximate acres burned: 100,114.
12-hour acreage change: +2,502.
Percent contained: 79.
Expected containment: Sept. 1.
12-hour containment change: 1 percent.
Structures threatened: 1,177 homes, business and outbuildings.
Yolla Bolly Complex
Location: 20 miles west of Paskenta.
Cause: Lightning, June 20.
Approximate acres burned: 88,515.
12-hour acreage change: +528.
Percent contained: 95.
12-hour containment change: +5.
Expected full containment: Tuesday.
Structures threatened: None.
Siskiyou Complex and Blue 2 Fire
Location: Near Orleans.
Cause: Lightning, June 21.
Approximate acres burned: 73,438.
24-hour acreage change: +861.
Percent contained: 72.
24-hour containment change: None.
Expected containment: Aug. 30.
Structures threatened: None.
Ukonom Complex
Location: Near Orleans.
Cause: Lightning, June 21.
Approximate acres burned: 50,721.
24-hour acreage change: +190.
Percent contained: 89.
24-hour containment change: None.
Expected containment: Sept. 15.
Structures threatened: None.
Bear Wallow Complex
Location: Southeast of Cecilville and west of Etna.
Cause: Lightning, June 21.
Approximate acres burned: 14,591.
24-hour acreage change: +281.
Percent contained: 49.
24-hour containment change: None.
Expected containment: None.
Structures threatened: None.
Panther Fire
Location: 15 miles south of Happy Camp.
Cause: Lightning, July 22.
Approximate acres burned: 22,778.
24-hour acreage change: +393.
Percent contained: 50.
24-hour containment change: +5.
Expected containment: Aug. 28.
Structures threatened: 14 homes.
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