Repair work continues on August Complex South Zone

By Lake County News Reports | Nov. 4, 2020
The M1 area of the South Zone on the August Complex. Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service by Alexa Barchuk.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Crews are working against time and unseasonable conditions to complete fire suppression repair across the South Zone of the August Complex before winter weather sets in.

The South Zone continues to hold at 499,826 acres and 90 percent containment. The entire August Complex is estimated at 1,032,649 acres and 93 percent containment, the US Forest Service said.

It began on Aug. 16 and 17 due to lightning. It is the largest fire in California’s history.

The Forest Service said the August Complex is approximately 70 miles long by 45 miles wide, covering an area larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. That includes portions of seven counties across six different fire weather forecasting zones.

There are 264 personnel working on the South Zone. Crews are focusing on fire suppression repair in priority areas such as dozer lines around wilderness, in wild and scenic river corridors and locations that are prone to landslides, the Forest Service reported.

Officials said repair is nearly complete in the Gloyd Slide area where there was risk of severe erosion and possible collapse of a segment of the M6 Road and repair is complete in the Sanhedrin Wilderness.



The August Complex in Northern California as mapped on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Map courtesy of the US Forest Service.