I’ve been retired since 2009, and am curious about the “containment” on fires now, vs. percentage control and percentage contained.
“Back when”, we could have a large fire 100% contained ( good solid line around the fire), but only a percentage controlled.
I see “initial attack” fires that are still only 50% contained, even though they have remained static in acreage for several days.
When did things change, and why? Is this a national thing? Is it due to reimbursement / FMAG / union driven???
I believe it is more driven terminology for the Press Release and understanding of the public. So when equipment is assigned after containment it’s easier to explain that the fire still has a chance to escape the lines because of hot spots. It’s probably easier to explain to Politicians this way also
Many times on larger fires they will have line all the way around the fire (building the box) but fire perimeter hasn’t reached the line yet and is still actively burning in a way that will compromise that part of the line. Its a good p.r. and press tactic. To me it sounds better to hear that a fire is 15% contained with forward progress stopped than it does to hear 100% but you can see its burning actively and then you get told to evacuate.
The goose fire in fku is a good example of why this is done. They had dozer line all around the fire but stopped its forward progress on the road going to the repeater site and it was looking good working two helos until 2 pm when the fire spotted past the retardant and road making a hard push down slope towards the icp. They fired of the dozer line on the east side of the mountain at the base of the slope. They did a whole mop up of the perimeter before 100% containment was declared. Everyone living in that area evacuated. If they declared it contained based on having a line around the fire but still actively burning and let those people go home then have things go mucho sideways the media and lawyers would have a field day. Its also to cya.
Book description from the NWCG Glossary
Contained:
The status of a wildfire suppression action signifying that a control line has been completed around the fire, and any associated spot fires, which can reasonably be expected to stop the fire’s spread.
The Glossary defines “Controlled” as:
The completion of control line around a fire, any spot fires therefrom, and any interior islands to be saved; burned out any unburned area adjacent to the fire side of the control lines; and cool down all hot spots that are immediate threats to the control line, until the lines can reasonably be expected to hold under the foreseeable conditions.
TheBrushSlash gave a reality description
Nowadays many financial expenses are cut off or limited after the fire is “contained” so if you want to get patrol, rehab, or other related costs billed to the fire, you have to manipulate the percent “controlled” or “contained”. Also, as mentioned above, it has become a number that the public, politicians, etc use and scrutinize for lots of purposes other than fire suppression or fire control - so the team and the ICs no longer use an actual mathematical calculation to determine the numbers released to the public. Usually a number is recommended to the IC and he/she determines what will actually get recorded on the 209 and press releases.
This is why you’ll see a fire sit at 95%-96% for a week or more while equipment is being released, and it’ll suddenly jump to 100.
The problem is that if a fire isn’t truly 100% contained AND controlled, something like what happened on the Lions Fire, where it was called 100% contained, but wasn’t controlled, and it slopped over and took off. Since that happened, it’s tripled in size, and is currently at 65% containment again.