The National Weather Service says a fire weather watch will be in effect starting tonight. Forecasters predict gusty winds and dry conditions to last through Wednesday morning for much of the northern Sierra Nevada and coastal range.
Bridget Bushue is a spokeswoman assigned to the North Complex fire. She says winds can kick up embers and spark new fires in and around existing fire zones.
“We’re watching the containment lines, we’re watching the areas where there are heat, and that’s what we want to do. We want to prevent any new starts from happening or any flare-ups of fire that is existing.” Bushue said.
The North Complex fire in the Plumas National Forest is 95 percent contained. Bushue says firefighters are now focused on forest repair.
“When we bring in bulldozers and we’re building berms and fire lines, that can do, um, make significant changes to the forest. So now we are going back in with excavators and chippers and dozers and we’re taking those berm lines out and we’re building water bars and just doing other suppression repair tasks.” Bushue said.
Elsewhere, the August Complex in the Mendocino National Forest has burned more than a million acres and is 88 percent contained. The Slater Fire in Siskiyou County is 80 percent contained at more 150-thousand acres burned.