A huge forest fire in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks has been fully contained more than three months after it broke out, officials said.
Fire managers declared the KNP Complex 100% contained on Dec. 16 after significant precipitation in the Sierra Nevada, the National Park Service said Friday.
The fire has not grown in recent weeks but there has been continued activity in remote areas, the service said.
The KNP Complex was ignited by a lightning storm on Sept. 9. Two fires that were spotted the next day eventually merged and scorched 138 square miles (357 square kilometers).
The National Park Service said total containment means that the fire’s perimeter is considered secure and no further growth is expected, which is different than a fire being declared out.
”Fire can become established in heavy fuels, such as large, downed trees, and may smolder there through multiple heavy snow and rain events, or even all winter, and become active again after the area dries out,” the service said.
The KNP Complex and another fire in the surrounding Sequoia National Forest tore through more than a third of the groves of giant sequoias in California and torched an estimated 2,261 to 3,637 sequoias, according to park officials.