Chippy Fire Update for August 18, 2007 at 7:00 A.m
Incident: Chippy Creek Wildland Fire
Released: 8/18/2007
Update: August 18, 7:00 a.m. Fire Information: Dixie Dies (406) 826-9009
Incident Commander: Wally Bennett Start Date: 7/31/07
Cost to Date: $8,040,000 Cause: Under Investigation
Containment: 30 percent Acres: 89,823 acres
The Chippy Creek Fire is located 20 miles north of Plains and 12 miles north/northwest of Hot Springs, Montana. Wally Bennett's Type 1, Northern Rockies Interagency Incident Management Team is managing the fire.
Yesterday's Activities: Firefighters strengthened the fire line in the southwest corner. A burnout was initiated between Schroeder Ridge and Drop Point 20 on the north-central area of the fire to reinforce the fire line north of Big Rock Creek Road. Firefighters contained the spot fire near the Hubbard residential area. Smoke, large fire columns and active burning has kept public interest high. A night shift of engines patrolled the east edge of the fire.
Today's Planned Activities: Crews will be reinforcing the containment lines in the north central area north of Big Rock Creek Road. On the southwest side of the fire, in the vicinity of the North Fork of the Little Thompson River, firefighters will conduct a burnout operation to strengthen the containment line if weather conditions permit. Firefighters will make a concentrated effort to extinguish spot fires. Expect to see an increase in smoke this afternoon. Night operations, with engines, will continue on the east and southwest areas of the 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 firefighting strategies.
Resources assigned: 9 Hand Crews, 34 engines, 49 pieces of heavy equipment, and 5 helicopters for a total of 614 personnel.
Weather and Fire Behavior: A Red Flag warning is posted from 4 pm to 9 pm today as strong winds are forecasted in advance of a cold front moving into the area. Winds are expected to be from the southwest at 15-20 miles per hour with stronger gusts predicted late afternoon. The morning inversion should limit fire behavior. Dry lightening is expected in the afternoon.
Evacuations: Residents along the Hubbard Dam Road from the junction with the Niarada Road north to the Hubbard Dam subdivision remain under an evacuation order.
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 . Information on protecting your property from wildfire can be found at: http://www.firewise.org/fw youcanuse/index.htm
Chippy Creek Fire information is posted on the Lolo National Forest website: www.fs.fed.us/r1/lolo. For further information on wildland fire activity see: http://www.inciweb.org/ or 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, and Plum Creek Timberlands.
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