VIDEO: Three weeks after it began, the Jenkins Creek Fire sits at 16,091 acres, with 188 personnel still working to fight the flames. โOverall, one thing weโre finding with the hotter, drier weather conditions, weโre finding that weโre still locating heat out on the fire, and itโs been fairly resistant to putting it out,โ said Brian Leitinger, Incident Commander for the Jenkins Creek Fire.
Due to its size, Leitinger says the Jenkins Creek Fire could take months to fully extinguish. โIโd expect that these fires are going to be patrolled, probably for the whole remainder of the summer to make sure theyโre out until we get into really wet, rainy weather and what we would call a season ending event. And with the predicted weather, that might be this fall,โ said Leitinger. Even with the fire 94% contained, changing weather conditions could cause it to spread across containment lines.
โEspecially given the conditions out there, the dense vegetation and these fuels, thereโs a high probability. Thereโs a lot of fire out there that is in the peat moss and in the Duff. You need the hotter, drier weather and then it starts showing itself over time. And that gives us opportunity then to put those areas out and get better containment on the fire,โ said Leitinger.
