Idaho Fire Crews Use Calm Before The Storm

Sept. 09--Despite temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s and single-digit humidity in some places, fire activity throughout the region was mostly subdued Saturday.

The lull gave firefighters an opportunity to complete some burnout work and prepare for the higher winds expected to arrive today and tomorrow.

"It was another really good day for us," said Katy Knotek, the public information officer on the 18,100-acre Mcguire Complex southeast of Grangeville.

Humidity dropped as low as 9 percent during the day, she said, but there were light winds and the smoke didn't clear off until late in the day, which helped dampen the fire activity. Crews completed their operations along the 1188 Road, burning downed trees and other fuel between the road and the main fire. They also chipped or removed much of the slash they'd cut down near Orogrande and Comstock.

A fire line has been completed around Dixie, Knotek said. Sprinklers and hoses have also been installed around homes on the perimeter of town, with fire engines ready to protect the interior.

"We got a lot of good work done in preparation for a significant change in the weather tomorrow (Sunday)," she said.

A dry cold front will move through the region, bringing winds from the southwest, shifting to the west Monday, Knotek said. That should push the fire to the northeast and east, towards the 1188 Road fire line, "so it will be a good test of our preparations."

At the 39,100-acre Powell SBW Complex, a series of three main and several smaller fires in the Lochsa River drainage south of Highway 12, temperatures hit 89 degrees with 12 percent humidity. Nevertheless, a heavy inversion helped keep fire activity to a minimum.

"We expected more behavior than we got," said Public Information Officer Bob Macgregor. "The inversion hung in longer than expected, so we didn't see a lot of activity. We had a few short crown runs on the north part of the Fern Fire, which is the one farthest to the east, and we dropped some water near the Bear Mountain Lookout on the west side of the complex."

Because of the inversion, visibility was very poor along an eight-mile stretch of Highway 12, he said, between mileposts 147 and 155. At times, it was down to a couple of hundred yards.

Because of the favorable conditions, Macgregor said, firefighters were able to complete a burnout operation along Bear Ridge. They used explosives to complete the last few hundred yards of the fire line, heading up to the lookout.

The main focus for today, he said, is to mop up any activity along Beaver Ridge and try to prepare for the dry cold front that's expected to arrive Monday.

"They're talking winds from the southwest of 15 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph," Macgregor said. "That's not what (fire crews) want to hear. But it will also bring cooler temperatures and higher humidity, so there's some hope."

The Sheep Fire near Lucile, in the Salmon River Canyon, seemed to be the most active blaze in the region Saturday. Updated figures weren't immediately available, but John Daugherty, public information officer, said it definitely increased from the 1,000 acres previously reported.

"It was very active, particularly to the southeast," he said. "It was moving east and south towards the head of Sheep Gulch. We had a lot of heavy air support, with heavy helicopters, heavy air tankers making retardant drops and single-engine planes making retardant drops."

A Type II incident team took over management of the blaze Saturday morning, Daugherty said. Two hot shot crews were also digging hand lines between two forest roads along the south side of the blaze.

"We had a high of 88 degrees up at the higher elevations, with 11 percent relative humidity," he said. "That's what drove the fire activity today. It wasn't the wind."

Additional information and updated reports on all three fire systems, as well as other fires throughout the West, can be found at www.inciweb.org.

Spence covers politics for the Tribune. He may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 791-9168.

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