Down in the canyon below Stirling City. Copter 205, AA210 T93 and T88 on load and returns. Limited ground access.
Sawmill Peak has direct eyes on the fire. In the timber with single tree torching visible on the cam,
Coverage level 6’s across the head each drop trying to slow this down so ground can catch up. No WX stations nearby reflecting fire conditions, PGE Flea has 86F 14RH SSW10G14, but that’s considerably SE of incident and ridgetop. Otherwise PGE Upper Skyway on the Magalia Reservoir dam down drainage from the fire. 97F 12RH W3G9
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That’s the 2018 Camp Fire burn in the foreground.
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Helitack crew 205 inserting themselves. 
C205 loading out of Paradise Lake
Edit: E333 made access, which means Type 3 access. Decent smoke visible from valley now. T94 off Redding for 3rd tanker
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Not in a good spot… outside of the recent burn scars and long travel times. It looks to be above the West Branch and as was stated just outside the Camp Fire. There are some roads but the timber is really dry…
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My big worry in that ground is always spotting from cutblock to cutblock. The grass, ferns, and abundant other fine fuels, coupled with lack of shade makes them really susceptible to spots, and lack of canopy lets in the wind, can add up to rapid spread. And the stumps knock the hell out of the dozer guys.
Not looking like much wind, and not looking too bad yet on the cameras, though.
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Cross from Platte Mtn camera puts it here:
https://goo.gl/maps/rJ7tdFqEwio6bgMz6
Good news is it looks like there’s a bunch of dozer line from Camp Fire there. Bad news is if it pushes NE, Kimshew Creek Canyon is about as steep as anything BTU has to offer.
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Butte County Cal Fire Reports …Air and ground crews are at scene of a fire in the timber south of Stirling City. two-acre and is moving at a slow rate of speed and is in an area of high timber and crews are making good progress. The fire is about one mile south of Stirling City.
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The clear cut is 15-20 acres, so I’m thinking 2 acres might be a bit light.
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Here is the latest from Butte County Fire… Previous report is now an hour old… sorry… sort of rusty
CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department
@CALFIRE_ButteCo
](https://twitter.com/CALFIRE_ButteCo)
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3m
#TenFire [update] Estimated 5 acres. 7 engines, 2 dozers, 2 crews, 4 water tenders, 1 air tac, 3 tankers, 1 helicopter at scene making good progress. Forward progress has been stopped.
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So far this year all up and down the state, fire crews on the ground and air have made great stops. It’s only 6-17 and we will see after this heat wave how it effects these fuels. To all in the field keep up the excellent work. Pyrogeography bring out one heck of a point. Stumps and Rocks are not very forgiving when your building line with a Dozer. Those operators get banged around a lot.
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Affirm, one problem with “clear cuts” is they are anything but clear. With the slash being ripped in, they are very receptive to spots.
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T88 and T94 returning to Grass Valley and Redding. As others have stated, good stop. Definitely an eye opener to see how receptive/stubborn these fuels are this early in the season.
Also I bet the Hawk’s tank volume is a world of difference on these fuels than the buckets. I wasn’t a fan of the tank on 205 at first with some of the tiny hidden dipsites up in the eastern Tehama ponderosa front range (like Mill Creek, Deer Creek canyons, Ishi Wilderness) where 205’s bucket could slurp up the only water in an 18minute flight time radius. And some lightning starts last year up there certainly proved the snorkel couldn’t sip out of the creek and still maintain rotordisk clearance, requiring lengthy round trips to the valley for water. But…I’m becoming more of a believer…
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BTU has a new start in the Palermo Area…no info yet
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It is Bone Dry out there. Conditions more like last September than mid June should be seeing. We are back clearing land in Paradise and Magalia again this summer Trying to take every precaution we can when working in the tall brush and grass Just crazy bad how dry it is in the foothills here. With all the clearing of trees in the area after the camp fire we are a land of stumps … tens of thousands of them. With piles of slash everywhere And now the wind whips through here like a freight train… I do not know if I can create enough defensible space to feel good about being up here this summer… I started in CDF back in 1977… one of the worst years of drought in NorCal. this season is setting up like 1977 did… with reservoirs at all time lows, Fuel moistures levels low this early in the season … It was a wild fire season…
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Fire is contained at 5 acres. Heavy mop up underway. Resources at scene will remain committed 3-4 hours. This fire is on logging land south of Stirling City. No structures threatened
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