& how do firefighters ‘contain’ a fire and keep it contained?
[This is the fire I’m referencing.](https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2022/9/5/fairview-fire/)
In: 2
Fires keep moving when they have stuff to burn and the wind at their backs.
To stop them, we usually try to create a “firebreak” by clearing out a strip of vegetation ahead of where it’s likely to move.
The fire will reach this barren section of land and be unable to spread further due to lack of fuel.
Very large or windy fires can sometimes jump across these, so it doesn’t always work.
If the fire is 5% contained, a small section has been successfully quarantined with firebreaks but most of it has not.
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