Year: 2007 (Page 11 of 21)

I’ve seen a lot of people searching for information on the the Garland Gulch fire, and according to Steve Sequin, Public Information Officer with Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, the Garland Gulch fire is right at 100% contained today.

The reason it hasn’t been showing up on any of the official websites is that they typically don’t show anything under 100 acres, and it has, or had, not reached that point yet.

InciWeb has this update this morning on Bone Creek:

The Rocky Mountain Area Incident Management Team managing the Little Goose Fire has moved their base of operations to the Wyoming Department of Transportation shop at Burgess Junction to better serve the fire suppression efforts on the Bone Creek Fire.

The Bone Creek Fire is now 4,083 acres. The fire is burning in dead and insect infested spruce/fir and lodgepole pine. Structures are not immediately threatened, so crews have been able to use indirect control tactics like retardant applications, helicopter water drops, burn outs and natural barriers in conjunction with hand line.

Currently entry is prohibited into the Cedar Creek, Grouse Creek and Brindle Creek Area. Hunt Mountain Road (Forest Road 10) is closed between the junction of Forest Road 209 and 216. All of Forest Roads 205, 216 and 220 as well as Trail 055 are closed. If needed the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office would be responsible for the actual evacuation notification.

It is now listed at 15% contained.

The fact that they have moved Incident Command from Little Goose to Burgess Junction would certainly seem to indicate that Little Goose is well under control and in final wrap up. No update on Little Goose is yet available. Check back for updates.

Update: Little Goose still stands at 4827 acres and 95% contained, and InciWeb lists their target containment date as today, the 21st.

Planned Actions: Continue to work towards containment along Little Goose Creek drainages. Continue securing fireline along the remaining perimeter. Continue rehab efforts in areas where practical.

Fire Behavior: smoldering with minor surface spread in interior islands

Update: We can all rest easy. According to Steve Seguin, Public Affairs Specialist with the US Forest Service, there are no new fires or flare ups in the area. The smoke is coming from Montana and from Bone Creek, and the concentration of smoke we are experiencing here in Sheridan is due to an inversion; cool air pushing down and trapping the smoke. A big Thank You to Steve for getting back to me so quickly.

The Little Goose fire is 85-95% contained, and things are going very well for the crews.

From InciWeb:

Began to implement the phased Base Camp transition from the base of the Little Goose Fire to Burgess Junction near the Bone Creek Fire. Continue to make significant progress in securing the fire line on the Little Goose Fire toward a standard which will allow transition back to the local unit.

I lived in the Los Angeles area for 12 years, and if any of you had ever wondered what a third-stage smog alert in LA was like, now you know.

I, like everyone in Sheridan, woke to smoke filled skies, and although this mornings report on InciWeb is still showing Little Goose as 85% contained with no indication of a flare up. I have an email out to to one of my sources, and will update this post as soon as I can find out where all the smoke is coming from.

InciWeb finally has an update posted on these fires on their website. Since it appears they are either having problems or are limited on bandwidth, I am quoting all the information I find regarding these fires here on my blog. Hopefully this will reduce the load on their site, and also minimize the frustration of the public. From InciWeb:

Sheridan, WY – Crews made excellent progress toward containment of the Little Goose Fire today. Eighty five percent of the perimeter has control line around it. The fuels have been completely extinguished within 130 feet of the fire line. The Little Goose has not grown in three days and stands at 4,827 acres. Even though the Little Goose Fire is approaching full containment, it is still the top priority for the Rocky Mountain Incident Management team. The Red Grade Road closure from the snowmobile parking lots to the top of Stumpy Ridge is still in place, and will remain so until suppression is final.

No smoke was observed on the Little Goose Fire from the Incident Command Post next to County Road 77 on the east side of the fire. However, smoke from isolated stumps and trees could be visible for the next few weeks but will not be a threat.

As crews become available they are either being reassigned to the Bone Creek Fire or sent to other fires in the west.

The Bone Creek Fire currently burning in the Hunt Mountain area of the Big Horn National Forest grew to 2,883 acres today. The fire is burning in decadent and insect-infested spruce, fir and Lodgepole pine. The dead trees and difficult terrain are proving to be a challenge for the fire fighters. Because structures are not immediately threatened, fire fighters have been able to use indirect control tactics like retardant applications, helicopter water drops, burn outs and natural barriers in conjunction with hand line.

Currently entry is prohibited into the Cedar Creek, Grouse Creek and Brindle Creek areas. Hunt Mountain Road (Forest Road 10) is closed between the junction of Forest Road 209 and 216. All of Forest Roads 216 and 205 as well as Trail 055 are closed. Residents in the area were given a pre-notification from the United States Forest Service informing them that there may be the possibility of an evacuation if the fire progresses. If necessary, the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office would be responsible for the actual evacuation notification.

There are 443 people, five helicopters and four engines assigned to the fires.

Bone Creek is listed at 5% contained.