CALIF. (KERO) — Some of California’s National Forests are reopening two days earlier than expected.
Weather conditions are helping control the fires that have been plaguing the state.
The announcement was made Tuesday after the recent closure of the nine national forest temporarily being closed due to the multiple wildfires scorching California.
An estimate of 7,465 burned over 2.2 million acres across all the state.
However, the U.S. Forest Service said there are forest-wide closures that will remain in place and will be extended until September 22 in southern California due to fire danger.
But as for the National Forest in northern California, the Shasta Trinity National Forest will reopen Saturday, as the closure will remain in effect until Friday night.
The monument fire area closure will remain in place, along with other local closure orders.
The U.S. Forest Service said the reason behind their decision in reopening some of the national forests are some favorable factors.
"The forest officials have made this decision due to the predicted weather conditions that were coming up for the weekend ahead of the rain. I believe there was going to be some gusty and breezy winds with that, and the other reason is that we are still in really dry fuel conditions, and with those winds and with those fuel conditions, if we do start, it's off to the races again, so we would like to give that little buffer, let everybody know that we are open on the 18th with the exception of those fire areas."
As we're leading to reopening the forest, the Forest Service said we're not out of the wood works just yet.
"Just be aware that we're not out of the fire season just yet, so that is one of the reasons fire officials have decided to keep the forest closed for just one more, two more days, just to be on that safe side," said Suzanna Johnson, National Forest Service.
The forest service isn't opening everything. It suggests checking the status of an area before you visit it.
