Tuesday Update 9-11
Incident: Powell Sbw Complex Wildfire
Released: 9/11/2012
POWELL SBW FIRE COMPLEX
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Nez Perce - Clearwater National Forests
Loc
Contact: Bob MacGregor Note New Phone # (208)942-0333
Date Started: 7/20/2012 Total Personnel: 148
Cause: Multiple Lightning Strikes Size: 42,221 Acres
Percent Contained: 0% Injuries to Date: 0
Resources: 1 Type 1 Helicopter, 6 engines, 1 Type 1 crew, 1 Type 2 IA crew, 1 skidgine, and 2 water tenders.
Location: The complex consists of three main and numerous small fires situated in an arc running southeast to southwest of the town of Powell, Idaho, straddling the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary. The three main fires are named from east to west as: Fern, Cedar and Freeze Out Queen.
Yesterday' Activities: A sense of optimism was evident in fire camp after the dry cold front moved across the area without causing significant fire growth. The forecasted winds did materialize but high humidity combined with a cumulus cloud cover kept fuels from heating up and acreage gain on the fire was limited to 400 acres. The cold front also blew the smoke out of the valleys so that firefighters, residents, visitors and especially helicopter pilots could finally breathe and see clearly. Both the heavy and a light helicopter made water drops on a new start that was discovered on Sunday evening and designated the Eagle-Robin fire, they were able to knock enough heat out of that fire so that Infra-red flights from Monday evening showed very little warmth left there. In a minor setback, aerial reconnaissance did show that the Storm Creek Pack Bridge had suffered some fire damage to approximately 1/3 of its decking. Ground operations on Monday included beefing up the patrols along the Lochsa River, north of the Freeze Out Queen fire, to make sure no spots jumped Highway 12. Good progress was made in mopping up the Beaver Ridge containment line.
Today's Activities: Fire behavior forecasts for the next few days show low potential for significant growth and the fire organization will shrink to fit the needs of the incident. Most of the heavy equipment that did the yeoman's share of the work in building the line along Beaver Ridge will be released from the fire today, including the two feller-bunchers, the skidder and one of the skidgines. Hutton's Wildland Fire Management Team will be transitioning with a Type 3 Organization from northern Idaho over the next few days. Helicopters will continue to be used today to cool down the Eagle-Robin fire; their mission should be made easier by continued low smoke conditions. Due to temperatures dropping below freezing tonight crews will be adding anti-freeze to many of the pumps stationed across the fire to guarantee their continued smooth running.
For Updates follow this incident at: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3226/
For Tips on Keeping Your House Firewise: http://www.idahofirewise.org/
