Cal Fire Reports Lucas Fire 30% Contained By Press Release Volume
Officials say a new metric tracking upbeat statements, rather than actual fire lines, better reflects public morale during containment efforts.
Cal Fire officials announced Monday that containment of the Lucas fire, burning across Lake and Mendocino counties, would now be measured using what the agency calls the Optimism Containment Index, a running tally of hopeful press releases issued since the fire began.
Under the new system, a single statement describing Sunday as a "big turning point" reportedly accounted for nearly a third of the fire's listed containment on its own, with additional percentage points expected once a follow-up statement praising firefighter morale clears internal review.
A spokesperson for the agency, speaking only to reporters gathered near a printer producing the releases, said the index offers residents a clearer picture of progress than smoke plumes or scorched acreage ever could. "Actual containment lines are hard to see from a helicopter," the spokesperson said. "A well-worded update, everyone can read."
Crews on the ground continue working to establish physical containment lines around the fire's perimeter, a process officials say remains unrelated to, but is hoped to eventually catch up with, the press release figures.
The agency says it will revisit the index once containment, by either measure, reaches 100 percent, or once it runs out of adjectives, whichever comes first.