Safety and Effectiveness Nix Line Building
Incident: Fool Creek Wildland Fire Used for Resource Benefit
Released: 8/10/2007
About 9/100 of an inch of rain was recorded near the fire on Friday morning.
The moisture gave firefighters a possible opportunity to engage the fire more directly. A group of firefighters went into the West Fork of the Teton River near Porcupine Creek on Friday morning. The group of specialists looked at options for building fire line. They concluded that building a line would be both overly dangerous and futile.
With the fire burning through the tree tops and not on the ground building a fire line wouldn't slow the fire. Embers coming off the burning tree tops would breach any fire line firefighters might build.
The group was also very concerned by the large number of burned standing trees (snags). One snag fell and nearly hit a firefighter Friday.
The only safety zones--places where firefighters could go if the fire flared--was either up a very steep slope into the burned area or down the river canyon into rocks some distance away. The group concluded that it would be better to wait for the fire to move to a better place for fighting it.
Light east-northeast winds are forecast after a Canadian cold front passes over the area early Saturday morning. High pressure will build and the fire will receive lots of sunshine. Temperatures will rise and humidity will fall.
Sunday the forecast calls for near-record high temperatures. At the fire, that means mid 80s with humidity falling to the mid teens. Not much growth is expected Saturday, but Sunday could see active fire.
Firefighters will continue running pumps at Gooseberry, and Sabido cabins on Saturday. Two helicopters will drop retardant in the Nesbit Creek area while a third helicopter will drop water on spot fires above Porcupine Creek.
Special Notices, Alerts & Restrictions: The Sun River, Ear Mountain and Blackleaf state wildlife management areas are closed. All of the Rocky Mountain Ranger District is closed except for the southeastern part of the Scapegoat Wilderness. Other adjacent areas of the Flathead National Forest are closed. The land managed by the BLM adjacent to the national forest boundary including the Blind Horse Outstanding Natural Area is closed.
Stage II fire restrictions are in effect on the Rocky Mountain Ranger District outside of the wilderness. Stage I restrictions remain in effect within the wilderness.
