[Delano]

Good noose guise.

Night Shift September 1, 2009

With great opportunity come great expectations. That seems to sum up the plans for the night shift. Excellent progress was made on the Station Fire today setting high expectations for additional progress by the night shift. Higher humidity is expected overnight. This will reduce the active fire behavior and allow firefighters to attack the fire directly, rather than just creating fireline to rob the fire of fuel.

There is still a chance for isolated thunderstorms tonight that may affect operations if gusty winds blow ahead of the storm. Most of the winds however, will be terrain driven. Blowing down the canyons as the air cools. Firefighters will be extra vigilant as fires usually burn up slope.

Along the Southeast flank of the fire, crews tied together several independent firelines creating a great firebreak in the area. This activity greatly reduces the risk of the fire advancing on the neighboring communities. Crews conducted several burn out operations ahead of the fire in this area. The burn outs were successful in the area today and will allow night operations to continue aggressive burn out operations and to monitor and mop up the burn area stopping the western migration of the fire.

Devils canyon continued to burn actively in the Southern Flank of the fire. Additionally, there was increased fire activity around Mt. Wilson today. The fire established itself to the north and there still is the potential for the fire to run back up the mountain. The Martin-Mars heavy scooping air tanker made high volume drops raising the humidity in the area. The lower humidity and the preparation work done by the day shift will allow the night shift to aggressively attack the fire directly.

The Northern Flank of the fire, south of Highway 14, is under a monitor and mop up mode. This is where the firefighters hand check the fire to make sure it is dead out. The work done by the day shift completed several miles of dozer line adding to the increased containment numbers.

As expected, the fire burned in to the San Gabriel wilderness. Because of limits on the utilization of mechanized equipment in the wilderness areas, firefighters will be working in San Gabriel canyon as a contingency over the next couple of days. The fire is now west of the canyon. Planning ahead will assist in stopping the blaze if the fire continues to march east. Currently, there is no immediate threat to the area. Residents are urged to use caution in their travel as firefighting vehicles may be in the area.