Even though the smoke has cleared, the many firefighters still assigned to the Gifford Fire remain busy.

“We have close to 500 miles of dozer line, we have 42 miles of hand line, and 94 miles of roads that we actually need to rehabilitate in order to put this place back to near natural conditions before the fires started,” said Gifford Fire Public Information Officer Diane Cross.

She says that currently, the main objective for crews is to reach full containment, but repairing any environmental disruption caused by firefighters and equipment is also top of mind.

“Which include breaking down the berms, putting in water bars, and spreading brush over those lines,” she explained.

Cross says that a big part of the work is thinking ahead. Scientists have been conducting tests on burnt soil t

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