Fire crews set up camp at China Peak to fight the growing Garnet Fire

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Shaver Lake was quiet Tuesday as the Garnet Fire inches closer to the area.

The beach was mostly quiet, with the exception of kayaker Christian Palmer.

“Because I’m dumb,” Palmer laughed. “No, I was going to go riding, but there was too much smoke, so I just took a little cruise across the lake and probably shouldn’t have, but I did.”

Palmer would not encourage anyone else to visit the lake, though.

“I just came up to make sure the cabin was going to be okay and kind of get a check on where the fire was right now and talk to my buddies that are out working on it,” Palmer said.

He worked as a firefighter for many years, so do as he says, not as he does.

“Obviously, stay out of the smoke as much as you can,” Palmer said.

While many vacate the area, fire crews are moving in.

“It was determined initially to get folks up onto the hill so they could get to the fire a little bit quicker during their shift and also decrease the amount of time they’d spend on the road going from camp to the fire line,” Fresno Fire Marshal Jay Tracy said.

Thousands of firefighters and support staff are moving from their post at Dinkey Creek to the China Peak Mountain Resort.

This is no vacation, though.

“We’re here to do a job and there’s a lot of people that are really busting their tails to do what they can to protect this forest,” Tracy said.

He says crews are committed to containing the fire, even though it means leaving their families for weeks on end.

“We want to put this thing out. We want to put this thing to bed as quick as we can. But obviously, the next few days are kind of crucial,” Tracy said.

He says if the weather stays on their side with low temperatures and the absence of thunderstorms, they will make significant progress in the next 48 hours.