THE DAMAGE DONE
Progress on containment continues as fire smolders ahead of mid-week winds
OROVILLE » The North Complex has burned more than 318,000 acres, but was 94 percent contained Monday.
Firefighters have made slow but steady progress on the group of wildfires started in mid-August that burned together into the North Complex and destroyed much of Berry Creek and Feather Falls as well as other Butte County mountain communities.
At last count, the complex had destroyed 2,455 structures.
“Forest closures remain in effect and hazardous conditions still exist,” the U. S. Forest Service said in press release Monday. “The public is asked to stay out of forest closure areas, as interference with fire suppression could delay firefighting efforts.”
The Forest Service said it is focusing on erosion control and recovery of water hoses, pumps and water storage containers.
Fuels in the fire area are expected to dry out over the week after showers over theweekend. Most of the fire was smoldering Monday, but the Forest Ser
vice expects surface fire to burn again in covered areas and areas that didn’t experience rain in the next few days. A wind shift will bring north and northeast winds, but it isn’t expected to be as strong as previous winds in the fire area.
However, the threat of winds has caused PG& E to ready for a public safety power shut- off. Potential power shut- off
The utility is on what it calls an “outage watch.”
Weather forecasts predict winds with dry vegetation in the Sierra foothills and PG&E is
monitoring the area. The utility’s website says power could be shut off in Butte County between 6 and 8 p.m. Wednesday and remain off until 10 p.m. Friday .
Since that is a few days out, conditions could change, but if power is shut off, the utility estimates 11,366 customers, including 986 medical baseline customers, could be without power.
The majority of those customers are located in the unincorporated parts of the Butte County, but about 3,146 are in Paradise and 379 are in Oroville.