Putah Fire in Yolo County is 95% contained as firefighters begin land repairs
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Putah Fire burned 860 acres in Yolo County and is 95% contained.
- Firefighters will monitor until no smoke is observed for three straight days.
- Fire suppression repair will begin Monday to prevent erosion and protect water quality.
The Putah Fire that burned 860 acres in Yolo County was 95% contained Monday as firefighters wrapped up containment efforts and prepared to begin fire suppression repair, Cal Fire said.
Firefighters planned to continue monitoring the area until no smoke had been observed for three consecutive days, although crews had come off the fire line, according to an early Monday update from Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit.
The fire broke out last Monday after a prescribed burn escaped about seven miles west of Winters near Highway 128 and continued to burn during red flag warning conditions across much of the Sacramento Valley late last week, firefighters said.
Firefighters contended with steep, rugged terrain Tuesday as crews prepared for red flag conditions from Wednesday morning through Thursday night.
By early Tuesday afternoon, Cal Fire estimated the fire at 860 acres and 20% containment. The fire’s footprint did not grow for the remainder of the week, while containment increased to 95% by Monday. Firefighters then shifted to mop-up operations, extinguishing hotspots within the containment lines.
What is fire suppression repair?
Fire suppression repair is intended to restore areas disturbed during firefighting efforts and reduce erosion, said Meghan Scheeline, a forester and fire suppression repair specialist with Cal Fire, in a 2024 video posted on Cal Fire’s YouTube page.
According to Scheeline, the work can include:
- Putting water bars into the lines bulldozers created during firefighting to prevent erosion.
- Removing dirt from creeks crossed by firefighting equipment.
- Pulling brush back onto disturbed dirt areas to reduce erosion.
- Using chippers to grind up vegetation removed during firefighting, including branches and trees.
- Repairing damaged fences.
“Our main goal with suppression repair is to prevent further damage to water quality,” Scheeline said in the video. “We’re trying to keep dirt out of creeks and leave the land in the condition that we found it to the best of our ability.”
Why did Cal Fire start the prescribed burn?
The annual prescribed burn that led to the Putah Fire began in 2018, after the area saw multiple “large-scale” wildfires in the years prior, Ryan Isham, deputy chief of Cal Fire LNU, said in a video posted to the unit’s social media.
Most of the wildfires, Isham said, were caused by vehicles traveling through the area. The prescribed burn was intended to reduce vegetation that could ignite along the roadway. He said the area’s steep terrain had historically made wildfires difficult to contain, increasing the need for fuel reduction projects such as prescribed burns.
Isham said that although the Putah Fire escaped the prescribed burn’s operational control line, it did not escape Cal Fire’s planned management boundary for fire suppression.
“Although this fire got bigger than what we initially intended for it to be, we were able to keep it on the property that was already approved for that work to be done,” Isham said in a video posted to Cal Fire LNU’s YouTube account Thursday.
Isham said prescribed burns conducted under favorable conditions generally are successful.
According to Isham, conditions firefighters evaluate when considering using a prescribed burn include:
- Wind
- Temperature
- Relative humidity
- Terrain
- Time of day
- Fuel amount
- Fuel moisture
A study by UC Davis researchers published in May found that an increase in the use of fuel treatment strategies, including prescribed burns, could improve wildfire resiliance and prevent billions in potential damage.
“Introducing good fire back into the landscape allows us to reduce fuel accumulation, improve forest health and range and health, all of which have benefits in protecting and strengthening our communities,” Isham said.
