12/01/16 - Pinnacle Fire - 9:00am Update

Incident command officials encouraged by recent rain and continued containment

PICKENS—Two days of rain have helped keep the dwindling fire within the perimeter established three days ago. The welcome storm that brought another inch of rain to the area yesterday prevented an infrared flight for a second straight night, but a new picture of the heat from the fire should be available tomorrow. Division supervisors scouting the fire’s boundary this morning have reported good containment, and incident command officials are encouraged that the lines continue to hold well. Crews will not return to the most recently active portions on the northeastern section of the fire until the slick terrain and soaked ground dries out more, probably later today. As conditions improve over the next several days, firefighters will return to the fire’s edge to reinforce the lines and backfire unburned areas where possible. While the firelines appear to be holding well and the weather is helping to keep the fire activity at a minimum, incident command officials continue to emphasize that the incident is still not over. Even as frontline firefighting resources continue to be scaled back over the next few days, line improvement operations and mop-up operations likely will continue for weeks. FIRE SIZE: 10,560 acres, as of Nov. 30, 2016 CONTAINMENT: 62% EVACUATIONS: No current evacuations ESTIMATED COSTS TO DATE: $4.57 million CLOSURES: Table Rock State Park reopened yesterday (Tuesday, Nov. 29).  All facilities and roads will be open with the exception of the Carrick Creek Trail, the Table Rock Trail, the Pinnacle Mountain Trail and the Foothills trail portion that is located on Table Rock. The trail to the Carrick Creek Falls overlook will be open, as will the Pinnacle Lake trail.  For more information, please contact the park directly at 864-878-9813 or tablerock@scprt.com. POTENTIALLY THREATENED STRUCTURES: The threat to structures has been greatly reduced because of recent rain. Staging of resources continues should a changing situation warrant their utilization. FIRE CREWS/RESOURCES: Type III incident management team (IMT), one Type II hand crew, two Type II-IA hand crews, four fire tracks and 137 personnel assigned. INJURIES: No injuries have been reported. FIRE BACKGROUND: Human-caused / Nov. 9, 2016 / Table Rock State Park, 10.5 miles north of Pickens, S.C.