As of July 11, wildfires have burned thousands of acres across Washington state. One phrase that has become common as fire departments and reporters try to keep the public informed is “containment”. But what does that mean?
According to the Northwest Incident Management Team, there are three stages that fire departments go through before a fire is declared out.
The first is containment. For a fire to be contained, or to be contained to a certain percentage, barriers need to be formed around the fire’s edge. This barrier consists of firefighters, roads, or other natural obstacles.
A fire is 100% contained when its perimeter has been fully surrounded.
Next, departments need to get the fire controlled. For a fire to be contained, it must be put out sufficiently to prevent it from spreading further.
After that, once all hot spots and embers have been put out, a fire can be declared out.
Friday, the Chelan Hills fire, which burned near 10,000 acres and destroyed over a dozen homes, was declared out.
Other fires are still burning in the counties surrounding Seattle. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Rye Grass Coulee Fire was 80% contained on Sunday, and the B &O Fire was not contained at all.