Cliff Creek 4

Jackson Hole Daily, Mike Koshmrl– Firefighting crews now have the Cliff Creek Fire more than two-thirds contained and Lava Mountain Fire secured along 20 percent of its perimeter. (This is now at 40% containment.)

Good progress was made over the weekend, despite a thunderstorm system that stirred up winds but didn’t leave much moisture in the conifer and sagebrush where the Cliff Creek Fire is burning north of Bondurant.

“We got three-hundreths of an inch in camp and nine-hundredths at the weather station up in the hills,” Fire Information Officer Andy Lyon said. “It helped, but it’s not going to put it out.”

The same storm system Saturday in Jackson, by contrast, put down 0.7 inches of rain.

“We were concerned about the wind,” Lyon said. “When you have thunderstorms you have erratic winds, but the fire lines held in all the places and the containment is up.”

The 690 people assigned to the Cliff Creek Fire have the 44-square-mile blaze mostly controlled along its western and southern boundaries. The goal is to contain 60 percent of the fire and let the rest burn freely in the Gros Ventre Wilderness, Shoal Creek Wilderness Study Area and other remote portions of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The rocky alpine peaks of the Gros Ventre Range are being used as a firestop to the north. Some 68 percent of the containment work was considered complete as of Sunday.

With structure protection work almost finished and fire lines nearly secured in the Granite Creek drainage, Incident Commander Tony DeMasters has shifted resources to the east flank of the fire.

“The area of greatest focus over today and tomorrow is going to be up in the area of Craig Cabin up at the head of Jack Creek Basin,” Lyon said.

The historic cabin, used by a hunting outfitter under a Bridger-Teton special use permit, has been wrapped with a heat-reflective material that’s similar to what fire shelters are made out of.

Going into the weekend just 5 percent of the Lava Mountain Fire west of Dubois was under control, but by Sunday the perimeter was 20 percent secured. The northern edge of the 21-square-mile wildfire abutting Highway 26/287 is now considered contained.

Complete containment of Lava Mountain is expected by Sept. 1. On the Cliff Creek blaze fire managers predict a 50 percent chance of 100 percent containment by Sept. 30.

The 1,164 firefighters and other personnel assigned to the Lava Mountain Fire have so far prevented the loss of any structures, despite the blaze burning through and by subdivisions and ranches.

Although the Lava Mountain and Cliff Creek fires were natural, lightning-sparked events, they both commanded aggressive suppression responses because they were close to developed areas. The blazes have run up a big bill for the U.S. Forest Service, together costing the agency $21.2 million.

 

Category: Uncategorized