The Tucker Fire was a wildfire that burned near Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Modoc County, California in the United States.[2] The fire ignited on Sunday, July 28, 2019 along Highway 139 and went on to burn an estimated 14,217 acres of land.[3] As of August 15, the fire was 95% contained. Officials say the wildfire was caused by traffic on Highway 139.[4]
| Tucker Fire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date(s) |
|
| Location | Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Modoc County, California |
| Coordinates | 41°43′34″N 121°14′35″W / 41.726°N 121.243°W |
| Statistics[1] | |
| Burned area | 14,217 acres (5,753 ha) |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Human Caused |
| Map | |
  Location in California | |
Progression
editThe Tucker fire ignited on Sunday, July 28, along Tucker Butte Road, east of California State Route 139 near the Perez Overpass and immediately grew to over 2,000 acres (809 ha) of land its first several hours of burning.[5] Throughout its run, the fire did not impact any structures of note however did directly impact large transmission lines within the fire area.[5]
Early Monday, July 29, the fire had grown to an estimated 2,461 acres (996 ha). Later that day, the fire spotted outside of control lines and proceeded to balloon in size to over 11,000 acres (4,452 ha) throughout that afternoon due to warm and dry weather conditions, burning predominantly northeast towards Clear Lake Reservoir.[6] During that time, residents along County Road 114/202, Coyote Butte and the Horse Mountain areas were put under a fire warning, but not under any evacuation warning.[6] At the time, the Tucker Fire was regarded as the largest blaze to burn on National Forest Land during the 2019 fire season as the blaze had grown to upwards of 12,973 acres (5,250 ha) in what had been regarded as an unusually inactive fire season for the state.[7][8] Late Monday evening, as the blaze made its way to a nature fire break in the Clear Lake Reservoir, fire crews conducted burn-out operations to corral the flare up wherever necessary.[9] By this time over 500 firefighters where actively engaging the fire.[10]
By Tuesday, July 30, the Tucker Fire had not displayed any erratic behavior as it had the previous two days of burning and was estimated to be 14,419 acres (5,835 ha) with at least 10% containment.[10] Within the following days, the fires containment would grow to 95% as the estimated acreage would be slightly downgraded to 14,217 acres (5,753 ha).[11]
Cause
editThe U.S. Forest Service cited that, much like two previous fires in the Modoc County area during the summer fire season, the Tucker fires ignition was directly human-caused, however unintentionally.[12] No further details have been reported on the specifics of the fires ignition as of this time.
References
edit- ^ "Tucker Fire". InciWeb (Incident Information). U.S. Forest Service. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Meyers, Talya. "Tucker Fire Ignites as California's First Major Blaze of 2019". Direct Relief. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
- ^ "Tucker Fire". Inciweb. July 28, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ Mackey, Meaghan (August 4, 2019). "The Tucker Fire, California's largest wildfire this year, is 95 percent contained". KRCR NEWS. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Robinson, Adam (29 July 2019). "Tucker Fire in Modoc County burns 2,461 acres". KCRA News. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- ^ a b Gailey, Brian (29 July 2019). "Tucker Fire explodes to 11,000 acres". Klamath Falls News. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ Times, Los Angeles (30 July 2019). "Tucker Fire in NorCal Explodes to 13,000 Acres, Becomes Largest Blaze on National Forest Lands in the State This Year". KTLA 5 NEWS. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ Costley, Drew. "California is burning 26 times less than it did in 2018. Why?". SFGATE. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ Gailey, Brian (30 July 2019). "Tucker Fire reaches Clear Lake". Klamath Falls News. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ a b Gailey, Brian (30 July 2019). "Fire activity slows on Tucker Fire [VIDEO]". Klamath Falls News. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ KHSL Staff. "TUCKER FIRE 95 PERCENT CONTAINED". ACTION NEWS NOW. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ Staff, InciWeb. "Human-caused fires keep Modoc firefighters busy". InciWeb. Retrieved 30 July 2019.