What's the latest on the massive Park Fire?
The Park Fire, which rapidly grew to become the fourth-largest wildfire in modern California history, is not fully contained after a month of firefighting.
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00:00For an update, here's CAL FIRE spokesperson Amy Puckett. Amy, thank you so much for joining us.
00:05I know that when a lot of people see the acreage burnt and they see the containment not at 100% yet,
00:10they may envision huge flames still. What's the status of the park right now, the park fire?
00:17So the park fire is 61% contained, 429,460 acres. The fire is holding within its perimeter
00:28and there are no new spot fires at this time. That's really good to hear. Now, how much has
00:34weather impacted this fire? Initially, we understand pretty volatile conditions led to
00:39rapid spread, but in recent weeks as the spread has slowed, crews have made a lot of progress,
00:44I know. So how has the weather impacted the firefighting efforts? Right, when this fire
00:50first started back on the 24th of July, we had very high winds and it was a wind-driven
00:56event. We were we were lucky there with the wind slowing down and changing direction and giving
01:02those firefighters a break and it became more of a fuel-driven fire. And are there still any
01:11evacuation orders out there? No, there is not any evacuation orders or warnings. Okay. They have
01:20been left. Is it safe to assume that in some of the areas where people may have lived near the
01:26perimeter where the fire didn't actually enter their neighborhoods, have they been able to return
01:29home then? Yes, they have. Okay. In the beginning of the week, everybody was home to their communities.
01:37That's very good to hear. How bad has the damage been and how much,
01:42how many properties or homes have been affected by this?
01:44We've had some, I'm sorry.
01:56I know that we we've been using some of the resources on your website that I know that you
01:59guys do update. And it seems that the numbers have not grown in recent weeks at least after
02:05the initial reports of at this point over 600 homes or structures at least that were destroyed
02:12or damaged. So is it safe to assume that at least we haven't seen new homes consumed since
02:18that initial first couple of weeks? That's correct. Okay, very good. And we appreciate
02:24all your insight there, Amy Puckett there with CAL FIRE. Amy, thanks again for your time and
02:29we wish you and still a lot of crews out there, over 3,000 firefighters involved with this effort.
02:33So we wish you the best as you carry this to completion there and we see that containment
02:37increased to near 100%. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Amy.