Rim Fire update for August 30, 2013

Update for August 30, 2013 – The fire is over 201,00 acres as of 6 am this morning, Aug. 30, 2013 with containment at 32%. More than 40,000 acres of that fire have burned within Yosemite National Park. At least 111 structures have been destroyed by the fire, which has been burning since Aug. 17.

According to Inciweb.org: “Burnout operations continued overnight in the southeastern area of the fire. Fire crews continued construction of fire line along 3N01 Road to stop fire spread to the north. Structure defense continues in all fires area. Today’s plans are to continue the burnout in the Yosemite National Park south of Hetch Hetchy. If conditions allow, the Duckwall Mountain north of Fahey Meadow burnout will start. Air operations will support all firefighting efforts as needed.”

Firefighters are also using an unmanned drone aircraft to provide real-time imagery for fire commanders giving them a birds-eye view of the 300-square-mile blaze. The drone was requested from the California Air National Guard. The Cessna-sized remotely piloted plane began flying Wednesday morning. It continued on a 20-hour mission throughout the day, alerting crews to a spot fire and providing a more comprehensive fire map.

The rate of spread for the Rim Fire has slowed the past few days and firefighters are optimistic that containment can be achieved by September 20, 2013.

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NASA’s Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument on August 29, 2013. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.org