Violations of Road Closure Order - Citations Will be Issued
Incident: Mcguire Complex Wildfire
Released: 9/21/2012
For immediate release
September 21, 2012
Violations of Road Closure Order - Citations Will be Issued
Over the past few days, violations of the road closure of the Dixie Road (Forest Road 222) have taken place. Continued violations could potentially result in a shutdown of the firefighting operations and citations being issued or individuals being arrested.
The Dixie Road was closed on September 15, 2012, to provide for public and firefighter safety as the fire threatened and then ultimately crossed the road. Firefighting operations on the roadway continue, and the area is still unsafe for both firefighters and the public. The goal of current operations is to construct a contingency fire line, which includes the roadway, to protect the community of Dixie in the event that wind shifts push the fire toward Dixie.
"We have heavy logging equipment working from the Dixie Summit to Little Mallard Meadows to construct a fire line that is 150 feet on each side of the road," said Incident Commander Carlton Joseph. "Our intent is to secure the community of Dixie from the current fire threat and threats that could take place in the future."
To accomplish this task, feller-bunchers, processors, skidders, loaders, dozers, logging trucks, and lowboy truck/trailers are operating on the roadway. While having these pieces of equipment operating in the area is hazardous in and of itself, an added challenge is that snags are falling onto the road on a continuous basis.
"Having members of the public traverse the roadway on their own in violation of the closure order is not an acceptable risk we are willing to take," added Joseph. "We are concerned for the safety of the public, but mixing the public in with our firefighters is going to result in us shutting down the operations in the area that is intended to protect the Dixie community." The Idaho County Sheriff's Department will patrol the area. If violations continue, citations will be issued and fire operations will be re-evaluated.
Ingress and Egress to and from Dixie
As a need still exists for residents of Dixie to ingress and egress in order to resupply with basic necessities, the daily opportunity for ingress and egress from the fire closed areas and roads will continue to take place for residents only.
Ingress to Dixie: A pilot car will escort residents only into Dixie. Residents that wish to enter Dixie must be at the road block on road 222 at Trapper Creek and road 1190 before 8:00 am. Based on current fire activity and the condition of the roadway, approval for the pilot car to escort residents into Dixie will be given by the fire operations Branch Chief for Branch 1. Residents must realize that a potential non-approval may occur and they would not be allowed to ingress to Dixie. Approval for the escorted ingress into Dixie will be on a day to day basis based on current fire activity and roadway conditions. Residents must be prepared for not being allowed to ingress to Dixie on any given day. Residents that ingress to Dixie must be prepared to spend several days in Dixie if fire activity and roadway conditions prevent them from being escorted out of Dixie.
Egress from Dixie: A pilot car will escort residents out of Dixie. Residents that wish to egress from Dixie must be at the bridge on road 222 before 9:00 am. Based on current fire activity and condition of the roadway, approval for the pilot car to escort residents out of Dixie will be given by the fire operations Branch Chief for Branch 1. Residents must realize that a potential non-approval may occur and they would not be allowed to egress from Dixie. Approval for the escorted egress will be on a day to day basis based on current fire activity and roadway conditions. Residents must be prepared for not being allowed to egress from Dixie on any given day. Residents that depart Dixie must be prepared to spend several days away from Dixie if fire activity and roadway conditions prevent them from being escorted back into Dixie.
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