PHOTOS: The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) said firefighters have made significant progress battling the Orleans Complex thanks to cooler temperatures and raised humidity on Monday. The Butler Fire, ignited by lightning on July 3, roughly 10 miles east of Orleans near the Humboldt-Siskiyou County line, has burned 17,849 acres with 6% containment. Officials said firefighters successfully constructed handlines directly on the fire’s edge and completed control lines around several spot fires and slop-overs from the previous day. Notably, firefighters completed a handline around a spot fire near Tripp Point on the north end and mopped up along the Salmon River Road corridor, extinguishing interior heat pockets threatening the roadway.
The USFS said Efforts continued across the Salmon River in the Crapo Creek drainage, where crews built direct handlines from the river up to Yellow Jacket Ridge. They said additional handlines were constructed from Sawyers Bar Road up to Yellow Jacket Ridge along the fire’s eastern perimeter in Murderers Gulch. Overnight, firefighters conducted strategic firing operations to reduce vegetation between the fire and structures near the Salmon River confluence. Crews also contained fire that had spread into the Knownothing Creek drainage and evaluated options for indirect control lines along Hotelling Ridge.
