The Park Fire was 50% contained Saturday as firefighters again took full advantage of the good recovery in humidity overnight, keeping fire activity to a minimum while keeping the fire contained to 429,263 acres.

At Cal Fire’s morning briefing, Park Fire Meteorologist Tom Schuldt explained that special fire precautions would need to be taken on Saturday because a weather disturbance would move through the area in the afternoon.

He said to expect “fairly blustery” winds between 2 and 8 p.m., with gusts between 24 and 30 mph in most ridges. However, he said that on the higher peaks – such as the summit of Inskip Hill, Turner Mountain and Doe Mountain – gusts will likely be closer to 30-35 mph. He expected those winds to stay in the area until 10-11 p.m.

Schuldt also said there was a slight chance of thunderstorms over the active portion of the fire Saturday night; that weather activity west of I-5 would begin in the early afternoon, possibly as early as 1 p.m.

“If any of this does indeed come over the fire, we can expect gusty and erratic outflow winds, lightning and light to moderate precipitation. This threat will be over by 9 p.m. and no further activity is expected overnight,” he said.

Downgraded zones

Another day of no fire expansion allowed the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office to reduce further evacuation orders and warnings. The TCSO announced that as of Saturday morning, the following zones in and around the Park Fire area had “returned to normal”: 696-E, 720-B, 474-A, 476, 448-A, 472, 478, 448-B, 482 and 480. Evacuation orders were reduced to warnings in the following zones: 696-G, 720-E, 714, 716-A and 712-B.

This left only six zones in Tehama County under evacuation order status: MLC-712-A, TEH-696-D, TEH-698, TEH-716-B, TEH-720-A and TEH-720-F – all in the eastern part of the county.

Cal Fire said heavy fuels and hazardous trees continued to burn in the fire’s perimeter. Steep and inaccessible terrain slowed firefighters’ containment efforts. Cal Fire also said firefighters in the area south of Mineral remained busy removing hazardous trees and increasing cleanup efforts.