Chippy Creek Fire Update 08/16/07 7:00 AM
Incident: Chippy Creek Wildland Fire
Released: 8/16/2007
The Chippy Creek Fire is located 20 miles north of Plains and 12 miles north/northwest of Hot Springs, Montana and is being managed by Wally Bennett's Type 1, Northern Rockies Interagency Incident Management Team.
Yesterday's Activities: Crews continued to anchor and hold the southwest corner of the fire and crews made good progress with burnout operations north of the North Fork of the Little Thompson River. Dozer lines were completed in the northeast corner as well as improving the dozer lines in the northwest perimeter area. There were thirty three thousand gallons of water and foam dumped on the fire. Single engine air tankers dropped twenty seven thousand gallons of retardant. Night crews are working on the fire to accomplish burnout where necessary and patrol the perimeter to monitor hotspots.
Today's Planned Activities: Crews are continuing to prep for burnout and blasting operations on the northwest corner. Burnout will continue in the southwest corner. Dozer lines are being improved along the northern edge of fire. A public meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Hot Springs School. The Incident Management Team members and local officials will provide updates and answer questions on fire fighting strategies.
Resources assigned: 10 Hand Crews, 32 engines, and 4 helicopters for a total of 598 personnel.
Weather and Fire Behavior: Today's weather forecast calls for temperatures in the eighties and relative humidity in the teens. Lights winds are expected from the east in the morning, switching to the southwest in the afternoon. Winds that will affect the fire will be slope and terrain driven. There maybe afternoon cumulus buildup in the afternoon. With the continued low temperatures and extremely dry fuels there will still be potential for spotting.
Total Flight Restrictions:
The total flight restriction remains in place over the fire. Pilots should be aware that there are seven aircrafts over this incident and more than one hundred in the air over fires within the region.
The Department of Environmental Quality recommends using local visibility guidelines to evaluate possible health risks and make informed activity decisions. This information is available at http://www.deq.state.mt.us/FireUpdates/index.asp
Although the wildland fires in Montana and northern Idaho have localized effects, both areas welcome visitors for a variety of adventures. See http://www.visitmt.com/fire/conditions.htm or http://www.visitidaho.org/
Further information on the Chippy Creek Fire is posted on the Lolo National Forest website. This information is available at www.fs.fed.us/r1/lolo. For further information on wildland fire activity:
http://www.nifc.gov/fire info/nfn.htm
http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/siterprt.pdf
Cooperating Agencies: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Sanders, Flathead and Lake Counties, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Lolo National Forest, Plum Creek Timberlands.
