SPOKANE, Wash. – There has been a lot of confusion in the Spokane area about what it means when a fire has a perimeter around it and when it is contained.
As of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the Upriver Beacon Fire is 100 percent lined and only 20 percent contained.
So, what does that mean?
Containment has to do with the probability that a fire could start again. Crews are going through the area looking for hot spots. After they have ruled out the possibility of a hot spot in the area, they can call it contained in that spot.
Twenty percent containment means 20 percent of the acreage firefighters have gone through have been ruled out of the possibility of hot spots. The remaining 80 percent of the land would still have possibilities of hot spots, which means a breeze could come through, whip up some embers and start the fire again. This does not mean there are smoke and flames in the area, but they cannot rule out the possibility that it could start again.
This is why crews continue to make a perimeter around the fire.