Fire fighters have wrapped up the Fort Fire that burned an estimated 945 acres along the Lower Owens River. The fire was reported at about noon on Thursday. High winds blew the flames through brush leaving a long area near the river blackened by the time fire fighters, with help from the weather, were able to call the fire fully contained.

With a fire that burned a long and narrow strip of tule covered bottomland near the Lower Owens River, this fire has now been measured at about two and a half miles long. Earlier, estimates of the fires size had originally come in as high as 2000 acres. Now that crews have walked around the perimeter of the burn area with a gps unit, the fire is listed at 945 acres.

With few structures in the area near Blackrock Road, between Big Pine and Independence, tules, grass, and bushes appear to be the main victims here. With the high winds on the first day of the fire, over 185 people were assigned to the blaze. Crews with Calfire, the Forest Service, BLM, Big Pine Volunteers, Independence Volunteers, and DWP crews all worked on this fire.

A helicopter was also brought in to dump buckets of water onto hot spots before the fire was declared fully contained Saturday evening.

What caused the fire has not yet been determined for certain. DWP crews had conducted controlled burns near the area the day before the fire started, but fire officials have not yet determined whether the controlled burn was involved with the ignition of the Fort Fire.

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