Timber WFU Fire
Location: 13 miles NE of Spencer, Clark Co., ID
Specific Location: Centennial Mtns., N of Camas Creek, Caribou-Targhee NF, Lat 44° 30´ 6″ Lon 112° 1´ 21″
Date of origin: 09/29/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of Oct 03, 2008 2:45 PM
Personnel: 17
Size: 1,747 acres
Percent contained: 0%
MMA: not reported
Single and group tree torching. Short crown runs, 1/4 mile spotting. Fire has burned ~100 acs in Montana, Beaverhead NF.
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Situation as of Oct 01, 2008 5:00 PM
Personnel: 8
Size: 600+ acres
Percent contained: 0%
MMA: not reported
Single and group tree torching. Short crown runs, 1/4 mile spotting. Fire has moved N and crossed into Montana, Beaverhead NF.
Dunn Mtn. Assist Fire
Location: 30 Miles NE of Billings, MT
Specific Location: Lat 46° 41´ 26″ Lon 108° 20´ 50″
Date of Origin: 08/21/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 09/01/2008 at 4:30 PM
Personnel: 204
Size: 102,383 acres
Percent contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $2,384,877
Events: Due to rain during the day and all last night demobilization started and went throughout the day.
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Situation as of 08/31/2008 at 6:00 PM
Personnel: 398
Size: 102,383 acres
Percent contained: 60%
Costs to Date: $1,848,482
Ongoing cooperative efforts between Incident Management Team, Musselshell and Yellowstone Counties.
We have not posted regarding this megafire because we thought it would be contained much sooner. But now it has gone mega (100,000+ acres), so it deserves mention.
Indian Creek WFU Fire
Location: 29 miles SW of Darby, MT
Specific Location: Bitterroot NF, Lat 45° 46´ 2″ Lon 114° 39´ 4″
Date of Origin: 08/02/2008 (First official report 8/25)
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/23/08 3:30 PM
Total Personnel: 0
Size: 400 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Maximum fire area desired: 4,000,000 acres
Cooper WFU Fire
Location: 23 miles SW of Darby, MT
Specific Location: Bitterroot NF, Lat 45° 51´ 15″ Lon 114° 35´ 19″
Date of Origin: 08/09/2008 (First official report 8/25)
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/23/08 4:00 PM
Total Personnel: 0
Size: 115 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Maximum fire area desired: 4,000,000 acres
Wapiti WFU Fire
Location: 27 miles W of Darby, MT
Specific Location: Bitterroot NF, Lat 45° 54´ 20″ Lon 114° 42´ 40″
Date of Origin: 08/09/2008 (First official report 8/25)
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/23/08 3:30 PM
Total Personnel: 0
Size: 170 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Maximum fire area desired: 4,000,000 acres
Triangle Peak WFU Fire
Location: 2 miles W of Nyack, Flathead Co., MT
Specific Location: Great Bear Wilderness, Flathead NF, Lat 48° 26´ 2″ Lon 113° 51´ 37″
Date of origin: 08/09/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/19/2008 5:00 PM
Personnel: 20
Size: 270 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Maximum desired fire size: not reported
First official report 8/20/08.
Costs to Date: $75,000
Heavy helicopter support will continue to be critical for working E edge of the fire to prevent it from spreading towards private land and homes.
Cardinal Peak WFU Fire
Location: 14 miles NE of Seeley Lake, Powell Co., MT
Specific Location: Flathead NF, Lat 47° 22´ 10″ Lon 113° 20´ 6″
Date of origin: 08/09/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/19/2008
Personnel: 0
Size: 228 acres
Percent contained: 0
Maximum desired fires size (MMA): not reported
First official report 08/20/2008. This will also be the last report until the fire reaches 1000 ac or complexity changes.
Bear Gulch Fire
Location: 12 miles E of Townsend, Broadwater Co., MT
Specific Location: Big Belt Mtns., 6 mi W of Missouri River, N of Hwy 12, Helena NF, Lat 46° 19´ 57″ Lon 111° 11´ 26″
Date of origin: 08/18/2008
Cause: under investigation
Situation as of 08/24/2008 12:30 PM
Personnel: 220
Size: 755 acres
Percent contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $1,400,000
Fire is 100% contained. 100% mopup of all spots, and within 2 chains of Line. Secrest Type 2 IMT turning fire over to Type 3 organization at 0600, Monday, 8/25/08.
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Situation as of 08/22/2008 3:45 PM
Personnel: 270
Size: 755 acres
Percent contained: 91%
Costs to Date: $1,078,000
Completed handline around fire. Continue 100% mopup on all spots and within 2 chains of line.
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Situation as of 08/21/2008 4:00 PM
Personnel: 305
Size: 755 acres
Percent contained: 72%
Costs to Date: $761,000
Good progress made on handline going direct, due to cooler temps and higher humidity. Beginning mopup in Divisions A & Z.
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Situation as of 08/20/2008 4:00 PM
Personnel: 225
Size: 755 acres
Percent contained: 36%
Costs to Date: $520,000
Fire transitioned to Secrest Type 2 IMT at 0600 today. Due to favorable weather, crews made good progress securing line on SE & SW sides of fire. Proceeding to N side.
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Situation as of 08/19/2008 10:00 PM
Personnel: not reported
Size: 750 acres
Percent contained: 0%
Secrest team will take over at 0600 on 8/20
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Situation as of 08/18/2008 6:00 PM
Personnel: not reported
Size: 400 acres
Percent contained: 0%
Secrest’s Type 2 Team ordered.
Deep Draw Fire
Location: 6 miles W of Elmo, Flathead Lake, Lake Co., MT
Specific Location: Deep Draw, S of Hwy 28, Lat 47° 49´ 0″ Lon 114° 31´ 35″
Date of Origin: 08/08/08
Cause: Lightning
Situation as of 08/17/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 231
Size: Size: 2,022 acres
Percent Contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $3,625,032
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Situation as of 08/16/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 296
Size: Size: 2,022 acres
Percent Contained: 90%
Costs to Date: $3,290,388
Crews made good use of palm IR to identify hotspots and mop up along A/C break, continued opening up access roads, and patrolling Sullivan Creek.
Minimal fire behavior observed todaay. Smoldering, creeping, and heavies burning in Divisions A,B,C. Very few smokes reported on Div Z. [We no longer clean up the copy coming from the East Basin CC professional Information staff. Why leave the impression that they can write in correct English when they can't? - Ed]
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Situation as of 08/15/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 458
Size: Size: 2,022 acres
Percent Contained: 75%
Costs to Date: $2,682,352
Crews made good progress on containing and mopping up spot fires above Pablo Ranch. Crews monitored fire backing down towards the line and as needed burnout to strengthen control line. Div C is contained except on the west end in the timber. Crews continued opening existing roads for the contingency line in and along the west rim of Deep Draw. Crews and equipment continued to clear roads for the East rim of Deep Draw contingency line.
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Situation as of 08/14/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 456
Size: Size: 1,763 acres
Percent Contained: 70%
Costs to Date: $2,320,127
Public meeting was held at 19:00 on Wednesday evening at the Elmo Community Center, 60 people from the area participated.
Large daily cost increases are due to the inclusion of previous days’ aircraft and IA equipment being entered into ISUITE today.
Night shift continued burnout operations on the E flank towards Pablo Ranch and the control lines from Pablo Ranch W to the ridge top. Crews continued the operation on the day shift with the assistance of air support. Structure protection still in place at the Pablo Ranch. Crews continued opening existing roads for the contingency line in and along the W rim of Deep Draw. Crews and equipment continued to clear roads for the E rim of Deep Draw contingency line.
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Situation as of 08/13/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 406
Size: Size: 1,726 acres
Percent Contained: 65%
Costs to Date: $1,438,800
Public meeting was held at the Elmo Community Center.
Active behavior with moderate upslope runs with single and group torching and short range spotting. Fire has spotted into Deep Draw.
Planned Actions: Monitor and develop plan for fire in Deep Draw and continue with air support to hold fire to upper part of the ridge in Deep Draw to give crews and equipment time to construct lines. Continue contingency line construction tieing into old logging roads.
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Situation as of 08/12/08 4:00 PM
Total Personnel: 342
Size: Size: 1,449 acres
Percent Contained: 5%
Costs to Date: $805,431
Overnight the fire began to back down into Deep Draw. Overhead and crews scouted contingency line location and began construction from mouth of Deep Draw to ridge top on the east. Air support with heavy tankers, CL215, and helicopters dropped water throughout the day to hold fire to the ridge. Crews and Equipment continued to construct line on DIV C to C/A break. Div B patrolled and suppressed spot fires from falling embers. Div Z (Deep Draw II) began clearing overgrown logging roads to provide safer access east side of Deep Draw.
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Situation as of 08/11/08 5:45 PM
Total Personnel: 218
Size: Size: 1,050 acres
Percent Contained: 5%
Costs to Date: $200,000
Two fires, Deep Draw I (1,000 acs) and Deep Draw II (50 acs, contained). Structure protection in place at the Pablo Ranch in Deep Draw canyon. Fire breached E flank containment lines in late afternoon.
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Situation as of 08/10/08 7:30 PM
Total Personnel: 58 (not updated and certainly in error)
Size: Size: 600 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Active direct attack. Engines, air resources employed.
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Situation as of 08/09/08 11:30 PM
Total Personnel: 58
Size: Size: 400 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
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About W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking
Last Spring W.I.S.E. initiated this Fire Tracking site. We have been endeavoring to track the larger fires in the West. So far we have tracked over 170 fires, many still active.
The way W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking works is that each fire (that we choose to track) gets it’s own post. That post is updated periodically. We try to update on a daily basis while the fire is active, but some days the information is not available.
If a fire you are interested in is not on the main page (it only holds 15 posts), then there are a few ways you can find it. First, try typing the name of the fire in the search applet in the upper righthand sidebar. Second, you can click on the “state” category if you know what state the fire is in. Third, if you know what month the fire started, you can look in the archives under that month.
For each fire we are attempting to post daily stats for acreage, personnel, percent containment, and suppression costs to date. That way each post becomes a historical record for that fire. You can see how the fire grew day by day, along with the changes in the other stats.
W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is in blog form, designed for feedback. People on the scene, or anywhere else for that matter, can contribute information, photos, or ask questions.
W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is free. It costs the taxpayers nothing. Your donations are sincerely appreciated. See the Join WISE page [here].
Unlike other fire sites, W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is not designed by and for firefighters. Our expertise and concern is about forests and other landscape types, and so we can provide indepth analysis regarding the effects of a particular fire on multiple forest values and resources. By collecting and posting the daily record for each fire, we are establishing the basic information needed to analyze fire effects.
Please take some time to explore W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking. There is a wealth of information being collected there. Sometimes you may need to read between the lines because the whole truth is only hinted at. Your analysis of specific fires is also welcome, as are your photos, maps, and on-the-ground observations.
Tumble Creek Fire
Location: 8 miles W of Nye, 20 miles N of Yellowstone NP and Cooke City, Stillwater Co., MT
Specific Location: Jasper (Tumble) Lake, Beartooth Mtns., Lat 45° 21´ 4″ Lon 110° 2´ 9″
Date of Origin: 08/01/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/09/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 64
Size: 380 acres
Percent Contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $1,413,000
A morning Palm IR flight detected some smoldering in the interior. A crew was available for initial attack throughout the day. The fire was not staffed but patrolled by air. Demobilization of supplies and personnel continued throughout the day. Command of the incident is scheduled to be transferred to the Custer National Forest at 0600.
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Situation as of 08/08/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 134
Size: 380 acres
Percent Contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $1,197,900
The fire received .19 inch of precipitation overnight. Fire behavior today consisted mainly of smoldering from small pockets of fuels in the interior of the fire. The fire received additional light precipation this afternoon.
Crews continued to grid for hot spots and mop-up any accessible hot spots that threatened control lines. Backhaul of equipment continued. A crew shuttle back to ICP began mid-day and all personnel were off the fireline by 1500. Demobilization of the retardant plant is complete. Both Type I helicopters will be released by the end of shift today.
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Situation as of 08/07/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 139
Size: 380 acres
Percent Contained: 80%
Costs to Date: $1,010,000
Acreage reduction was due to better mapping. The road closures for Picket Pin Road # 2140 and Trail # will be lifted at 2100 tonight. Per revised area closure #08-08-02-14. The West Fork of the Stillwater Road (FS road #846) Trail #’s 20 and 90, and the Initial Creek campground still remain closed.
Crews continued constructing direct line utilizing MIST tactics, searched for hot spots along the line, and cold trailed. The crews mopped up 300 feet in where foot traffic was feasible. The retardant plant was used in the morning and the plant started demobilization in the afternoon. The field observers returned with a GPS traverse of the fire perimeter. The eastern quarter of the fire is inaccessible and the fire perimeter was established from the air.
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Situation as of 08/06/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 145
Size: 620 acres
Percent Contained: 60%
Costs to Date: $741,000
Clear, dry, and calm conditions throughout the morning changed as a monsoonal moisture pattern arrived mid-afternoon. Increased cloud cover caused the fire to be fairly inactive with smoldering, creeping, and occasional single-tree torching fire behavior.
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Situation as of 08/05/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 132
Size: 620 acres
Percent Contained: 40%
A public meeting was held in Nye at 1800 hours. Road closures for the West Fork of Stillwater Road, FS road # 846 and Picket Pin Road #2140. In addition the Custer National Forest has issued a fire area closure that includes Trails #’s 20, 72 and 90 as well as the Initial Creek Campground.
Crews will continue to construct direct line using MIST (Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics), grid for hot spots along line and cold trail. Bucket drops with retardant for hot spots in cliffs. Structure protection group will continue assessment of structures.
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Situation as of 08/04/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 103
Size: 580 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Wilderness fire in difficult terrain. Communications problems, radio repeater system unmaintained and non-functional, no cell service.
Russian Flats Fire
Location: 27 miles SW of Stanford, Judith Basin Co., MT
Specific Location: Little Belt Mtns., Lewis and Clark NF, Lat 46° 46´ 23″ Lon 110° 24´ 47″
Date of Origin: 08/02/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/20/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 33
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $1,640,000
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Situation as of 08/17/08 6:15 PM
Personnel: 45
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 94%
Costs to Date: $1,600,000
Morning IR flight detected no heat.
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Situation as of 08/12/08 7:00 PM
Personnel: 45
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 94%
Costs to Date: not updated, est $1.8 million
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Situation as of 08/11/08 9:00 PM
Personnel: 45
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 92%
Costs to Date: not updated, est $1.6 million
Received about .10″ of precipitation on the fire last night. Burning and smoldering within the perimeter, no new spots found today.
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Situation as of 08/09/08 3:00 PM
Personnel: 136
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 90%
Costs to Date: $1,467,731
Completed Palm IR flight. Crews and engines continue to patrol and mop up hot spots. Transition to Type 3 organization will occur at 0600 on 8/10/08.
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Situation as of 08/08/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 248
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 84%
Costs to Date: $1,231,125
Late afternoon thunderstorms produced hail and wetting rain over the fire. Completed constructing fireline around perimeter of fire edge. Crews and engines with helicopter and logistical support continue gridding and mopping up hot spots.
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Situation as of 08/07/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 239
Size: 743 acres
Percent Contained: 72%
Costs to Date: $1,037,643
Winds from thunderstorm activity will likely test lines along fire perimeter. Fire activity started earlier today, around 1030 hours.
Line construction completed along E side of fire. Continued handline construction along N flank. Crews and engines with support from helicopters made good progress containing and mopping up hot spots outside the fires perimeter.
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Situation as of 08/06/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 255
Size: 639 acres
Percent Contained: 53%
Costs to Date: $798,195
Employed 6500 feet of FLE to secure south flank of fire. Good progress made constructing handline on north and east flanks. Crews and engines continued working hot spots around fire perimeter with bucket support from light and medium helicopter.
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Situation as of 08/05/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 237
Size: 619 acres
Percent Contained: 35%
Costs to Date: $425,000
Completed helicopter IR flight in AM. Good progress made constructing handline along north and south flanks. South flank prepped for FLE (fireline explosives). Medium helicopter used for bucket drops on hot spots outside of fire perimiter. Spots identified and mopped up adjacent to constructed line. Brushed out roads along north flank for engine access.
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Situation as of 08/04/08 5:00 PM
Personnel: 197
Size: 619 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Creeping and smoldering with open flames and isolated tree torching in thick forest.
Harley Fire
Location: 3 miles west of Neihart, Cascade Co., MT
Specific Location: Lewis & Clark NF, Lat 46° 55´ 53″ Lon 110° 47´ 59″
Date of Origin: 07/26/2008
Cause: lightning
Situation as of 08/02/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 30
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 80%
Costs to Date: $1,127,799
Demobilization of resources. All road closures and evacuations will be lifted by midnight.
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Situation as of 08/01/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 75
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 81%
Costs to Date: $1,066,813
Evacuation order for the Harley Creek residences, Harley Creek road closure, lifted at 2000 today.
Moved containment back to 8/10/2008 due to terrain and safety factors that made it impossible to line a segment of the fire’s perimeter.
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Situation as of 07/31/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 105
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 59%
Costs to Date: $1,016,218
Evacuation still in place. Anticipate lifting road closure on 8-3-2008. 2 crews reassigned to Cascade fire on 7/31/2008.
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Situation as of 07/30/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 143
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 51%
Costs to Date: $884,799
Lines have held during afternoon wind event. Perimeter of fire in Harley Creek (Div R) has not been staffed. Fire is burning into natural barriers and will be monitored using remote camera. Suppression action utilizing helicopter bucket work will be utilized if necessary
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Situation as of 07/29/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 112
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 44%
Costs to Date: $740,000
Voluntary evacuations still in effect.
Containment line was completed on NE and SW perimeters into Harley Creek.
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Situation as of 07/28/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 140
Size: 167 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Costs to Date: $500,000
Voluntary evacuations still in effect.
Line construction on N and W perimeters. Heli bucket work on S perimeter.
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Situation as of 07/27/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 128
Size: 147 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Residents in Harley Creek were voluntarily evacuated yesterday.
Spread of fire was checked with retardant and helicopter bucket work. Dozer and handline construction was started.
Parmenter Creek Fire
Location: 1.5 miles west of Libby, Lincoln Co., MT
Specific Location: Lat 48° 23´ 6″ Lon 115° 36´ 3″
Date of Origin: 07/26/2008
Cause: Under investigation
Situation as of 07/30/08 8:00 PM
Total Personnel: 121
Size: 130 acres
Percent Contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $813,437
Patrol and continue mop up operations.
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Situation as of 07/29/08 7:30 PM
Total Personnel: 170
Size: 130 acres
Percent Contained: 80%
Costs to Date: $605,000
No additional fire spread today. Spot fires were found and contained.
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Situation as of 07/28/08 7:00 PM
Total Personnel: 170
Size: 130 acres
Percent Contained: 60%
Costs to Date: $300,000
Mark Grant’s North Idaho Type 2 IMT took over fire operations yesterday. Two additional crews were received and put out on the fireline. One helicopter was used to suppress flare ups. Line was completed on the entire perimeter of the fire.
No additional fire spread. Spot fires were found and contained. The reduction in acreage is due to more accurate mapping of the fire perimeter.
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Situation as of 07/27/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 96
Size: 150 acres
Percent Contained: 40%
Utilized 3 SEAT’s, 1 heavy AT, 2 helicopters to help contain active west flank. Requested 2 additional crews and Type 2 team. Inbriefing scheduled for 0900 7/28 in Libby.
SW winds with gust to 20 mph.
Cascade Fire
Location: 10 miles west of Red Lodge, Carbon Co., MT
Specific Location: Custer NF, Beartooth RD, Rock Creek area, Lat 45° 10´ 24″ Lon 109° 26´ 22″
Date of Origin: 07/26/2008
Cause: Under investigation
Situation as of 08/12/08 6:45 PM
Total Personnel: 85
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $8,398,760
More hot spots starting show up with return of warmer and drier weather.
Transfer of command from McBratney’s Type 3 Team to Buhl’s Type 3 team will occur at 0600 tomorrow. Demob continues. This will be the last update to the 209 unless significant events occur. Information and updates on the fire will be available at the Beartooth Ranger District starting on 8/13.
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Situation as of 08/11/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 124
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $8,283,593
Bucket work on Division Y today. Rehab of handline work was done in A and B today. Engines continued mop-up along the West Fork of Rock Creek today. Transition to a smaller team to work with the District scheduled for 8/13. Tumble Creek was monitored by air. Demob continues.
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Situation as of 08/10/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 109
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $8,169,091
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Situation as of 08/09/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 136
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $8,060,480
Light rain over parts of the fire today. Engines worked along West Fork Rock Creek Road mopping up. Assisted Tumble Creek Incident with Palm IR flight today and GPS-ed interior hotspots.
As per the long term plan, the west and southwest sides of the fire will be allowed to burn into natural containment areas.
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Situation as of 08/08/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 175
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $7,903,895
Size of the Area closure in the West Fork of Rock Creek has been reduced. Crews are continuing to mop-up. As per the long term plan, the west and southwest sides of the fire will be allowed to burn into natural containment areas.
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Situation as of 08/07/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 228
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $7,755,000
Structures Destroyed: 5 residences (no additional)
Interior creeping and smoldering of unburned pockets of fuel. Continued mop up and patrol.
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Situation as of 08/06/08 5:30 PM
Total Personnel: 293
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 85%
Costs to Date: $7,340,000
As per the long term plan, the W and SW side of the fire will be allowed to burn into natural containment areas.
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Situation as of 08/05/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 429
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 75%
Costs to Date: $7,060,000
Crews are continuing to mop up and secure line. Dozer lines along controlled perimeter are being rehabbed and structure protection equipment has been removed in most areas. Demob or reassignment in progress for many resources.
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Situation as of 08/04/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 638
Size: 10,173 acres
Percent Contained: 66%
Costs to Date: $6,530,000
Line construction completed along uncontained perimeter in the Basin Creek drainage and on E flank to the N of the Basin Creek campground. Continuing to patrol and monitor fire’s spread into natural containment barriers to the W and S.
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Situation as of 08/02/08 3:30 PM
Total Personnel: 748
Size: 10,071 acres
Percent Contained: 33%
Costs to Date: $4,810,000
A Long Term Implementation Plan identifying long range fire management strategies, values at risk, and contingency actions was completed today in cooperation with local, county, state and federal officials.
Fire spread has been secured on north flank with control lines and natural barriers and crews are in mop up phase. Divisions on north flank will release some resources timing out and other resources will be shifted to divisions where active fire behavior continues. Helicopters and retardant being utilized to assist crews with line construction on northeast, east and south flanks.
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Situation as of 08/01/08 3:30 PM
Total Personnel: 747
Size: 9,701 acres
Percent Contained: 31%
Costs to Date: $4,000,000
Mandatory evacuation of the Grizzly Peak Subdivision has been lifted. Residents are still on alert. Structure protection is in place at the Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort and residential areas.
Successful burnout of control lines in the Basin Creek drainage occurred last night and early this morning. High winds caused some spotting over dozer lines on E flank. Crews and water support continue to pick up spot fires. Active fire behavior with individual and group torching with moderate rates of spread and mid-range spotting especially at higher elevations where fire is being impacted by strong winds.
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Situation as of 07/31/08 4:30 PM
Total Personnel: 692
Size: 9,411 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Costs to Date: $3,250,000
Crews and helicopters are focused on containing numerous spot fires on the northeast corner of the fire caused by yesterday’s wind event. Red Flag Warning for more winds today, 10 to 15 MPH increasing to 25 TO 30 MPH in the afternoon.
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Situation as of 07/30/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 692
Size: 7,539 acres
Percent Contained: 5%
Costs to Date: $2,285,000
Structures Destroyed: 5 residences
A Red Flag warning has been issued for the fire area for low RH’s and high winds associated with a cold front passage this evening. Fire showing significant increase in activity on the East Flank due to high winds. The Structure Protection Group at Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort has been put on alert and non essential personnel have been evacuated. Cold front passage predicted to occur around 2000 this evening.
Similar “Palouse” winds are expected on a weekly basis for the two months. All ID, MT, and WY fire managers should be aware.
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Situation as of 07/29/08 5:00 PM
Total Personnel: 496
Size: 5,936 acres
Percent Contained: 5%
Costs to Date: $1,250,000
Structures Destroyed: 5 residences
The Custer National Forest has issued a Fire Area Closure order that includes most of the trails and back country in the West Fork drainage. A mandatory evacuation continues for the Grizzly Peak subdivision.
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Situation as of 07/28/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 279
Size: 5,800 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
A mandatory evacuation is in place for the Grizzly Peak subdivision. Voluntary evacuation for lower West Fork of Rock Creek residents.
Bennett’s Type I IMT assumed joint command this morning at 0600 with Carbon County.
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Situation as of 07/27/08 4:00 PM
Total Personnel: 116
Size: 3,500 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Structures Destroyed: 5 residences
Evacuations of subdivisions still in progress. Continue evacuation of residences in West Fork drainage and Grizzly Peaks subdivision. Checking trails for hikers in the fire area. One helicopter assigned.
Update from Wildfire Today [here]: The Cascade fire on the Custer National Forest 8-10 miles west of Red Lodge, Montana has consumed 5,100 acres and has burned five summer homes in the Camp Senia area. The Grizzly Peaks subdivision about three miles west of Red Lodge was evacuated Sunday as a precaution. There are an estimated 40 to 50 homes in the subdivision. Another 40 to 50 homes west of Red Lodge were also evacuated. Bennett’s Type 1 Incident Management Team is assigned.
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Situation as of 07/26/08 9:00 PM
Total Personnel: 34
Size: 1,000 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Extreme fire behavior caused the evacuation of several threatened residences. Evacuation of hikers, recreation residences, and campgrounds in the West Fork of Rock Creek to the Timber Crest Girl Scout Camp. Helicopter evacuations of 3 hikers took place.
Active crown fire with flame length 50 to 200 feet There was spotting 1/2 mile ahead of the fire. The fire is burning in heavy blowdown from wind storm in November 2007.
