More progress according to the latest InciWeb news release:
Firefighters Gain 70 Percent Containment
Friday, September 14, 2007Bone Creek Fire Information Inquiries: Karl Brauneis, Information Officer
Greybull, WY – Firefighters continued to construct fire lines yesterday and attained 70% containment by late evening. Crews will continue to construct containment lines, suppress hot spots, and mop up today.
Firefighters will also utilize the findings from a fixed wing infra-red flight to help focus their suppression efforts on specific hot spots. Infra-red imaging is a tool designed to map the fires burned area and help assist firefighters in locating hot spots.
In addition, a hand held infra-red heat sensing device will also be used by firefighters to target specific spots. The operator sits airborne in a helicopter and flies over areas identified by either the fixed wing mapping flight or by field firefighters. The hand held infra-red can pick up heat buried below ground in stumps, logs and debris.
Current information, along with maps and photographs, can be viewed on line at www.inciweb.org
Fire Facts:
Size: 13, 670 acres
Containment: 70%
Personnel Assigned: 233
Crews: 3 Type I Hot Shot Crews
3 Regular Type II Crews
Air Resources: 1 Heavy Helicopter, 1 Medium Helicopter and 2 Light Helicopters
Engines: 2
Dozers: 0
Water Tenders: 3
Structures Threatened: 1 commercial property (Shell Falls Visitor Center) and 3 outbuildings (Horse Creek Cow Camp)
Costs to Date: Estimate $2,500,000
Land Ownership: Bighorn National Forest
I for one would be interested in what the fire service thinks the relationship is (if any) between massive infestations of beetles which kills large stands of trees, and fires that then clear out the trees and presumably kill large numbers of the insects. Is this a natural challenge-and-response situation? Or is it just coincidence that the fire burned so much killed timber?
I would assume the forest service would choose coincidence. I don’t know that they can think outside the box.