Fire Update, 8/30/12
Incident: East Fork Wildfire
Released: 8/30/2012
EAST FORK FIRE
FIRE INFORMATION FACT SHEET
Date: August 30, 2012 Time: 11:00 a.m.
Information Officer: Kathy Bushnell, 406-422-7164
Incident: East Fork Fire
Detected/Reported: August 22, 2012
Cause: Lightning
Location: T16N, R10W, Section 36, approximately one mile inside the southern boundary of the Scapegoat Wilderness on the Helena National Forest-Lincoln Ranger District
Incident Commander: Jarel Kurtz
Approximate Size: 40 acres
Fire Update:
Yesterday afternoon activity increased when the southwest winds reached the East Fork Fire, and pushed it further east within the Scapegoat Wilderness. The fire is about 40 acres and continues to actively burn-with surface and some small group tree torching-in contiguous sub-alpine fir and dense, dead timber stands. The strategy remains to safely manage this fire for suppression within the Wilderness boundary, primarily containing the southern flank and preventing further spread to the south.
Today fire personnel will continue to monitor the fire activity, but due to safety purposes there will not be any direct attack on the fireline. No structures are threatened.
Weather conditions will be sunny and warm with smoke lingering in the area. Temperatures could reach the mid-70s, but the relative humidity levels will remain low at 14-20% with southwest winds at 10 mph.
Closures: For public safety due to the fire activity, below is a list of closures in the area:
- Arrastra/Porcupine Basin Trail #482: entire trail
- Trail #488: entire trail
- Dry Creek/Meadow Creek Trail #483: from the beginning in T15N, R10W, Section 17 to Southern Shore of Meadow Lake in T16N, R9W, Section 18
Fire danger level: High
More information: Visit Inciweb at http://www.inciweb.org/ or call Kathy Bushnell at 406-422-7164
