Pilot, San Bernardino National Forest

Pilot, San Bernardino NF. Transfer of command from IMT 2 (Wakoski) back to local unit will occur today. Three miles west of Lake Arrowhead, CA. Timber, chaparral and brush. Minimal fire behavior. Road, trail and area closures in effect.

August 14, 2016 at 9:54 AM

Crews have made significant progress on the fire and are currently in the mop-up stage. Threats to structures and infrastructure (pipelines, electrical and the CA Aqueduct) have significantly diminished. Firefighters will continue to work within the fire area to assure any remaining fire does not escape existing containment lines. Fireline repair is underway and will continue for the next several days.

Sunday will be the peak of the heat wave with temperatures topping out in the 95 to 100-degree range. Afternoon relative humidity values will fall to around 15 percent. Sunday will also bring a return of the gusty winds out of the southwest around 15 mph with gusts to 35 mph on the ridgetops.

August 12, 2016 at 7:40 AM

Planned actions: Hold fire within current containment lines. Continue to construct and improve fire line and contingency lines. Mop up to meet perimeter security needs. Fight fire in the degree possible to ensure the safety of personnel and to prevent the escape of the fire. Continue structure protection activities. Be ready to implement contingency plan if needed.

The gusty southerly winds persisted into the evening, becoming light overnight.

Overnight temperatures cooled into the middle 60s with moderate to good humidity recovery. Friday will begin a warming trend that will persist into next week. Temperatures will top out in the 85 to 90-degree range Friday, increasing into the low 90s for the weekend. Relative humidity values Friday, and into the first part of next week, will fall to around 15 percent in the afternoon, recovering to around 30 percent overnight

Effective Thursday, August 11, 2016, at 12:00 p.m., the voluntary evacuation advisories for the City of Hesperia, Town of Apple Valley, and community of Summit Valley will be lifted.

Road closures through these areas shall be opened as well. This includes Arrowhead Lake Road from Hesperia Lakes to Hwy 173, Hwy 173 from Hwy 138 through Summit Valley, and Deep Creek Road from Rock Springs Road to the Spillway. The Pacific Crest Trail will remained closed due to ongoing suppression efforts.

We ask that residents returning to the evacuation zone please exercise caution. Firefighters, engines, and heavy equipment continue to operate in the area! Southern California Edison will continue line repair along Hwy 173 with occasional disruptions to motorists.

Incident Command has based its decision on the effectiveness of containment lines and decreased fire activity through this section of the Pilot Fire.

All mountain area evacuations and road closures remain in effect.

Incident Commanders wish to thank the residents of Hesperia, Apple Valley, and Summit Valley for their patience and understanding during the past few days while firefighters and law enforcement protected their communities.

August 11, 2016 at 8:40 AM

Planned actions: Hold fire within current containment lines. Continue to construct and improve fire line. Construct and
improve contingency lines. Mop up to meet perimeter security needs. Fight fire in the degree possible to ensure the safety of personnel and to prevent the escape of the fire. Continue structure protection activities. Contingency plan with decision and actions points will be ready for implementation if needed.

Overnight temperatures cooled into the middle 60s with poor to moderate humidity recoveries. Thursday will bring another day of south winds of 10 to 15 mph, with gusts to 30 mph during the afternoon. Relative humidity values will commence in the teens during the morning hours, then rising around 20% by late afternoon as moisture gradually pushes into the area.

August 10, 2016 at 9:30 AM

Moderate activity, backing flanking and short-range spotting, Spot fires on the west flank were successfully contained. Great progress in containment overnight.

August 9, 2016 at 10:16 PM

Planned actions: Hold fire within the current containment lines, continue to construct and improve containment lines, mop up 100 feet from the perimeter, fight fire to the degree possible to ensure safety of personnel and to prevent the escape of the fire. Nighttime temps are expected to be 62 degrees with increasing humidity. Winds remain out of the south at 10-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph. Tomorrow expected to be warmer with high temps near 90 and southwest winds 5-10 mph increasing to 10-15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph and relative humidity expected to remain in the low teens.

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS:

The entire community of Deer Lodge Park. Also included is Aleutian Drive, Klondike Drive, Evergreen Lane, Yukon Drive; Hwy 173 north and south from Hwy 138 to Arrowhead Lake Road.

VOLUNTARY EVACUATIONS:

Hesperia: Areas east of the Mojave River and south of Rock Springs Road to Kiowa Road; Areas east of Santa Fe Road, south of Ranchero Road to Arrowhead Lake Road and north of the Spillway have been reduced to a voluntary evacuation

Lake Arrowhead: The community of Grass Valley Lake in addition to the area north of Peninsula and North Bay Roads to Hwy 173, and south of Hwy 173 from North Bay Road to Grass Valley Road

SHELTERS: The American Red Cross Reception and Care Center is located at the Oak Hills High School 7625 Cataba Road Hesperia, CA. A second American Red Cross Reception and Care Center will be open at Rim of the World High School, 27400 California 18, Twin Peaks, CA.

ANIMAL SHELTERS: For ALL animal control inquiries related to the Pilot Fire contact: County Animal Care and Control at (800) 472-5609

Small animal shelter: Devore Animal Shelter, 19777 Shelter Way, San Bernardino CA;

Large animal shelter: Victorville Fairgrounds, 14800 Seventh St., Victorville, CA 92395.

ROAD CLOSURES: Hwy 173 is closed from the 138 to the forest gate, Hwy 173 is closed at Grass Valley, Arrowhead Lake Road closed at Ranchero Roar, Deep Creek Road closed at Rock Springs Road, Rock Springs Road closed at Arrowhead Lake Road, Grass Valley Road closed at Brentwood, Forest roads 2N33, 2N17X, 2N36 and 2N37 remain closed, Miller Canyon OHV Area remains closed Soft Closure (Residents Only with Identification)

TRAIL CLOSURES: Pacific Crest Trail is closed from the Deep Creek Hot Springs (3W02) to Lake Silverwood.

SMOKE ADVISORIES: The SCAQMD and MDAQMD have issued smoke advisories for the Mojave Desert Area.

SCHOOL CLOSURES:

Apple Valley Unified School District: Closed – Wednesday August 10, 2016 http://www.avusd.org/

Hesperia Unified School District: Closed – Wednesday August 10, 2016 http://hesperiausd.org/wps/

Oro Grande Unified School District Closed – Wednesday August 10, 2016 http://orogrande.net/

August 9, 2016 at 7:21 AM

ROAD CLOSURES: HWY 173 is closed between SR-138 and Arrowhead Lake Road, Hwy 138 is now open between I-15 and Crestline / Hwy 18. Forest roads 2N33, 2N17X, 2N36 and 2N37 are closed.Miller Canyon OHV Area is closed.

TRAIL CLOSURES: Pacific Crest Trail is closed from the Deep Creek Hot Springs (3W02) to LakeSilverwood.

EVACUATIONS: MANDATORY: Summit Valley north to Ranchero Road, east to Arrowhead Lake Road, west to Santa Fe in the City of Hesperia

EVACUATIONS: VOLUNTARY: Brentwood Road to the west, Peninsula Road to the south, North Bay Road to the east, and everything north of these boundaries in the Lake Arrowhead area

ROAD CLOSURES: Hwy 173 closure extended from SR-138 to North Bay Road, Forest roads 2N33, 2N17X, 2N36 and 2N37 remain closed, Miller Canyon OHV Area remains closed

SHELTERS: The American Red Cross Reception and Care Center is located at the Oak Hills High School 7625 Cataba Road Hesperia, CA. Individuals with large and small animals may bring their animals to the San Bernardino County Devore Animal Shelter 19777 Shelter Way San Bernardino, CA. A second American Red Cross Reception and Care Center will be open at Rim of the World High School, 27400 California 18, Twin Peaks,

SMOKE ADVISORIES: The SCAQMD and MDAQMD have issued smoke advisories for the Mojave Desert Area.

SCHOOL CLOSURES:

Apple Valley Unified School District: Closed – Tuesday, August 9, 2016 http://www.avusd.org/

Hesperia Unified School District: Closed – Tuesday, August 9, 2016 http://hesperiausd.org/wps/

August 8, 2016 at 4:25 PM

Additional Hesperia mandatory evacuations Santa Fe Avenue east to Lake Arrowhead Road everything south of Ranchero Road.

August 8, 2016 at 2:26 PM

Large and small animals shelter operations have moved to Victorville Fairgrounds, 14800 Seventh St., Victorville CA 92395

August 8, 2016 at 2:22 PM

A Voluntary Evacuation Order is in place for Deer Lodge Park area.

August 8, 2016 at 1:39 PM

ROAD CLOSURES: HWY 173 is closed between SR-138 and Arrowhead Lake Road, Hwy 138 is now open between I-15 and Crestline / Hwy 18. Forest roads 2N33, 2N17X, 2N36 and 2N37 are closed.

CLOSURES: Miller Canyon OHV Area is closed .

TRAIL CLOSURES: Pacific Crest Trail is closed from the Deep Creek Hot Springs (3W02) to Lake Silverwood.

EVACUATIONS: Evacuations have been ordered on Hwy 173 from Hwy 138 to Arrowhead Lake Road and from Hesperia Lake Place to Hwy 173. Approximately 25 homes are affected.

VOLUNTARY EVACUATIONS: North of Deep Creek Spillway, South of Rock Springs Rd, East of the Mojave River, and West of Kiowa Road

SHELTERS: The American Red Cross Reception and Care Center is located at the Oak Hills High School 7625 Cataba Road Hesperia, CA. Individuals with large and small animals may bring their animals to the San Bernardino County Devore Animal Shelter 19777 Shelter Way San Bernardino, CA.

SMOKE ADVISORIES: The SCAQMD and MDAQMD have issued smoke advisories for the Mojave Desert Area.

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The Pilot Fire started at about 12:10 pm on Sunday August 7 near the Miller Canyon OHV area off of Highway 138.

CA IMT2 (Wakoski) activated, in-brief at 8 am on Aug. 8th at Cottonwood Fire Station 20575 Hwy138 Hesperia.

HWY 173 is closed between SR-138 and Arrowhead Lake Road, Hwy 138 closed from Old Mill Road to 173.

Evacuations have been ordered for the Summit Valley area east of Cedar Springs Dam.

The American Red Cross Reception and Care Center is located at the Ranchero Middle School, 17607 Ranchero Rd., Hesperia, CA.

Individuals with large animals may bring their animals to the San Bernardino Country Fairground in Victorville.

There are currently 400 firefighters assigned to this fire, including 36 engines, 8 crews, 5 dozers, 8 helicopters, 8 air tankers, including the VLAT assigned. The night flight helicopter has been requested to assist firefighters overnight. Additional firefighters have been ordered and will be responding directly to the fire.

While drones have not been seen over the Pilot Fire, fire managers would like to remind the public that hobby drones, or (UAS) unmanned aircraft systems, pose a major safety threat to firefighting pilots and firefighters. When a hobby drone is flown into a fire area, incident commanders have no choice but to suspend air operations and ground aircraft until the drone is removed from the area.

As hobby drones have grown in popularity, we have seen an increase in these drones interfering with firefighting operations.A collision could easily result in major damage to our aircraft, injuries to the pilot and crew on board as well as firefighters below, and worse, a midair collision.

When drones interfere with firefighting efforts, a wildfire has the potential to grow larger and cause more damage. On most wildfires, an FAA Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is put into effect and any private aircraft or drone that violates the TFR could face serious criminal charges.

For more information on drone’s the public can visit the FAA’s website at www.KnowBeforeYouFly.org.