Chippy Creek Fire Update - 8/27/07 5:30 AM
Incident: Chippy Creek Wildland Fire
Released: 8/27/2007
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 fighting the fire.
At 6 a.m. this morning, Bennett's team will transfer command of the incident to Jess Secrest's Eastern Montana Type 2 team. The main Incident Command Post will be moving from Plains to Marion today since the majority of the work is located on the north side of the fire.
Yesterday's Activities:
Winds swept over the fire area again on Sunday, but crews were well-prepared to hold the lines on the north side of the fire and continue with mop up around the fire perimeter. The spot fires that were found during the wind event on Saturday were mopped up and the north side fire lines held for a second day of testing by winds.
Today's Planned Activities:
Firefighters under the leadership of Secrest's team will focus on mop up around the fire and continue with some rehab of fire lines in areas where it is appropriate. The focus will be to continue to control hot spots along the north edge of the fire and mop up into the fire a distance of 100 feet from the firelines in as many locations around the fire as possible. The hottest edge of the fire continues to be on the northern fireline near Redmond and Clear Creeks where crews will concentrate their efforts. Full containment of the fire is expected by this evening.
Resources assigned: 11 hand crews (20 people each), 323engines, 19 pieces of heavy equipment, 19 water tenders and 4 helicopters for a total of 651 personnel. Three hand crews from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan continue to fight fire on the northern fire lines.
Weather and Fire Behavior: Temperatures will continue into the 70's today and humidity will lower as a new high pressure system builds into the area during the week. The temperature and humidity should moderate fire behavior today.
Evacuations: Residents along the Hubbard Dam Road from the junction with the Niarada Road north to the Hubbard Dam subdivision were allowed to return home on Friday (August 24th). The Hubbard dam road remains closed to the general public, because of fire traffic. This closure will be re-assessed as needed depending on fire traffic within the area.
Temporary Flight Restrictions: The temporary flight restriction remains in place over the fire. Pilots should be aware that numerous aircraft are working this incident and many more are in the air over fires within the region.
Other information sources: Chippy Creek Fire information is posted on the Lolo National Forest website: www.fs.fed.us/r1/lolo, and on: http://www.inciweb.org/.
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.
