Size: 38,873 Acres

Percent of Perimeter Contained: 93%

Total Personnel: 1,697

Fuels Involved: Chaparral, brush, and tall grass

Significant Events: Moderate humidity recovery overnight greatly reduced fire behavior. The area where firefighters conducted a tactical firing operation never burned together with the main fire, creating a large island of unburned vegetation.

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Crews are patrolling and mopping up contained firelines on the north, west, and south sides of the fire. Mop up consists of extinguishing burning or smoldering vegetation—for example, stumps, logs, roots—along controlled fireline to an interior distance of generally 50–150 feet. It also involves felling snags (standing dead trees) or moving logs so they won’t roll downhill. Firefighters are also starting to repair areas affected by fire-suppression activities, for example, recontouring and building waterbars along dozer lines so water will quickly drain off.

Firefighters working in the Magic Mountain Wilderness Area have been using minimum impact suppression tactics (MIST). Such tactics are used to suppress fires with the least environmental, cultural, and social impacts. It is a light- on-the-land, minimum-tool approach to accomplishing suppression, mop up, and repair operations. MIST are never used at the expense of firefighter safety. Examples of such tactics include constructing fireline only to the width and depth necessary for halting fire spread; cutting only snags that are a safety hazard; allowing the fire to burn to natural barriers; using high-pressure sprayers on equipment to help prevent the spread of invasive plants. MIST guidelines are not intended to represent a separate or distinct class of firefighting tactics but rather a mindset: how to suppress a wildfire while minimizing the long-term effects of the suppression action.

The fire is 38,873 acres and 93 percent contained. Resources include 100 engines, 46 hand crews, 10 helicopters, 17 water tenders, 10 dozers, and 1,697 personnel. The incident command post is at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita. The base camp at Central Park will be closing today.

Weather and Fire Behavior

Hot, dry conditions persist for another day. Cumulus clouds will form over the fire area as monsoonal moisture increases. However, the chance of thunderstorms developing is very low. If storms do develop, they will likely be dry. The high temperature will be in the 90s and the relative humidity will be in the mid- 20-percent range but dropping into the teens in many areas. Winds will be 10–18 mph, gusting up to 25 mph.

Fire-behavior analysts do not expect the fire to be active near the perimeter on the north, west, or south sides of the fire. On the east side, where the Santa Clara Divide Road runs north and south from the North Fork Saddle Station, firefighters have been successfully conducting tactical firing operations west toward the main fire. The seven- hundred-foot buffer creates a good break between the main fire front and unburned vegetation to the east, greatly decreasing the likelihood spot fire will cross the line.

Closures

Two road closures are in effect: one at Sand Canyon Road and Placerita Canyon Road going into Bear Divide and one at Little Tujunga Canyon Road north of the Wildlife Way Station. An area, road, and trail closure is in effect on the Angeles National Forest (Order 01-16-05, effective July 28, 2016).

The Sand Fire is under unified command with Southern California Interagency Incident Management Team 3 (Incident Commander Mike Wakoski) and Los Angeles County Fire (Deputy Chief Vince Pena). Assisting agencies include Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, California Office of Emergency Services, CAL FIRE, California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles County Public Works, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern California Edison, Metrolink, Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control, and American Red Cross.