Containing a Wildfire
What does this actually mean?
When firefighters attack a wildfire, they first “draw a border” around it. Their primary goal is to create containment lines around the fire to prevent it from spreading. Then they can try to put it out within the containment lines, or they can just let it burnout.
A containment line is an area of dirt 12-14 wide, in which nothing can burn, and that a fire is unlikely to cross. It is possible for a fire to jump a containment line, it’s rare, and they’re built and designed in such a way to prevent it.
To say a fire is “50% contained” means that a border has been drawn around 50% of it. It might still destroy everything inside that border, but it shouldn’t go any further.
Why I Looked It Up
I just always wondered. I’m writing this a few weeks after the historic fires in Los Angeles when this was in the news a lot.