In relation to the California wildfires, how long does it necessarily take to contain a fire?

Question

I live in the San Diego County area, well away from the fires, but I do have a question.

Considering the environment, climate, etc., how long would it take to put out an actual fire? The Witch fire is far from being put out; likewise with a few of the other fires surrounding San Diego.

However, the fires near L.A. are almost contained. Is it because these fires were relatively small compared to the ones in San Diego?

Your opinion is much appreciated.

Answer 1

The ability of fires to be cobtained largely now depends on the air support. The "Santa Ana" winds generally are more apparent in San Diego county than Orange County or Malibu. These strong, dry winds prevent the air assets from being used and the ground crews are forced to do what they can.

You are right in that the fires up in LA were much smaller. But the terrain in LA is also much different. There is much larger areas in San Diego which are open fuel for fires while LA is much more densely populated throughout. This population density was also a reason why the majority of fire fighting assets were concentrated earlier on the Malibu and Orange County areas.

The Witch, Harris, and Rice fires in San Diego are now all 15% contained and are expected to be contained fully within the next two days. The winds have died down significantly and the humidity levels are slowly rising. These are key parts of helping fire fighters do their job.

To get a birds eye view of the fires, and to see how much damage and containment are currently in progress, go to google maps and look at San Diego. Click on the icons for more info.

Luckily I live in Scripps Ranch, and even though my house burned down 4 years ago, this time it was spared. My heart goes out to the owners of those hundreds of homes which have been destroyed. I know how it feels.

Peace.

Answer 2

San Diego county had much stronger winds the past week. One thing is that a lot more fires started in San Diego County. And many factors effect it too. If the wind is too strong than there is nothing anyone can do about the fire. Once the wind calms down then fire fighters can start containing. Like I said San Diego has more winds so... theres nothing that can be done.

Umm A large fire would be around 3 - 5 days. My opinion is that the fires will be contained by Friday Morning. Possibly tomorrow.

Im kinda suprised with the containment rate of the fires. Most san diego fires are only 20 % contained. But hopefully theyll be contained soon.

With how many acres burned and how many fires we are very lucky not many houses were burned.

The la county fires are about 80% contained.

Answer 3

There are many things that encourage a fire to stay out of control. You have to worry about the surroundings feeding the fire. You have to consider the temperature, winds and humidity. Also a fire creates it's own environment which needs to be considered. I saw for the first time a clip of an actual fire tornado. That is environment controlled. Fire has a mind of it's own and nobody can tell you how long it should take to get all the fires out. It could be some time to completely extinguish all the fires.

Answer 4

depends on the weather & especially the winds. The fire in San Marcos (daughter & family were evacuated for a while) was out quickly but others are maybe 10% contained.

I'm worried about the Camp Pendleton fires. The air here smells like a camp fire!

Answer 5

the newer small fires that started last night are 100 percent contained. that doesn't mean they are out it just means they wont move anymore and they are waiting for them to burn out. the smoke has stopped the fires from moving so quickly but they size is now the problem. they estimated that the largest fire the witch creek fire will be out on Nov 1. the one near LA was much smaller and the winds were not a strong. so its going to be a while. Be blessed u are well away from the fires and u dont have to evacuate like me and all my friends did.

Answer 6

I would say, I'm not a fireman nor a fire expert, because of so many circumstances & factors, wind, combustables plus avable fire fighting people & equipment it's impossable to predict.











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