Firefighters fear two megafires could merge in California

LOS ANGELES – As fire crews continue working to get a number of significant blazes in Northern California under control, they’ve also endeavored to prevent a megafire merger that would take the top off the state’s record books.

The potential stems from two fires – the historically mammoth August Complex and the far-smaller-butstill-devastating Zogg fire – that have burned to within roughly nine miles of each other in an area southwest of Redding.

While crews have increased containment of both blazes recently, particularly on the Zogg fire, officials this week acknowledged some concern that the two could eventually meet.

“Nobody wants them to merge. We have every plan in place for them not to merge. But it’s 2020, and time will tell,” said Kale Casey, public information officer for the Alaska Incident Management

Team that’s assigned to the north zone of the August Complex.

Fusing with the roughly 56,000-acre Zogg fire would swell the August Complex’s already massive footprint to more than 1 million acres – a previously unthinkable milestone in an unprecedented fire season.

However, officials have made significant strides in controlling the Zogg fire, boosting containment to 46% as of Friday.

The progress is particularly promising around the fire’s southern edge – the area nearest the August Complex.

Chris Waters, an operations section chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said Friday that the fire has calmed significantly in “the area from Igo south to Highway 36 and then back north to Platina Road.”

“We have engines still patrolling looking for hot spots and making sure that thing doesn’t cause us any problems,” he said in a video briefing. “And then they’re also going to be available to do initial attack in the event that another incident starts.”

The eastern flank of the August Complex also appears to be in good shape, according to the Alaska team’s operations section chief, Karen Scholl.

But that could easily change if the winds pick up. Strong gusts can carry embers miles beyond a fire’s burn area, potentially jumping containment lines, Casey said.

“The potential is there for fires to merge, certainly,” he said Friday. “The original lightning strikes all merged to create this megafire. Though everyone has their defensive plan ... that doesn’t mean that the fire won’t loft right over all that in a wind event.”

The August Complex began Aug. 17 as more than 30 separate fires sparked by dry lightning in the Mendocino National Forest.

Some of those burned together over the following days and weeks, and by Sept. 10, the complex was officially the largest blaze in

California history.

Already at 970,000 acres, more than twice the size of any in state history, it could surpass the 1-million mark even if it doesn’t merge with the Zogg fire.

Containment on the overall complex – burning in and around the Mendocino, Shasta-trinity and Six Rivers national forests – stood at 51% as of Friday morning.