EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR LEADS TO EVACUATIONS, EXPLOSIVE GROWTH ON BEAVER CREEK FIRE More extreme fire behavior occurred on the Beaver Creek Fire today, prompting additional evacuations, pre-evacuation warnings and the ordering of additional resources to fight this growing fire. The fire was active in the Greenhorn Gulch, Deer Creek, Dollarhide, and Baker Creek areas. The Baker Creek head of the fire produced massive pyro-cumulous column, while fire whorls, torching trees and crown fire was visible from Hailey and the Highway 75 corridor leading to Ketchum. Nonetheless, fire crews “did a great job staying up with it, if not staying ahead of it,” Incident Commander Beth Lund said Friday night. Many additional resources of all kinds are now responding to the fire including additional hand crews, fire engines and support personnel. As of Friday evening, 698 personnel are assigned to the fire but that number will swell significantly over the weekend. There are now 14 helicopters assigned to the fire as well. Aviation efforts have been hampered by a temperature inversion in the mornings, which traps smoke in the valleys and limits visibility. Once the inversion and the smoke disperses, fire behavior increases significantly, producing more heavy smoke, again makes flying difficult and dangerous. Once again a night shift will be operating Friday night, patrolling and watching for “spot” fires, as well as protecting homes and other structures. Spot fires are created when the main body of fire emits flaming embers ahead of itself. Spot fires have been reported up to a mile away during this incident. Fire engines from all over Southern Idaho and the region are arriving to help, especially with structure protection in the threatened communities. Because of the extreme fire behavior, the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office evacuated the East Fork area between Hailey and Ketchum, and issued pre-evacuation warning for Ketchum and Sun Valley, as well as many other residential areas around Hailey and Ketchum. The latest information on evacuations can be found at blainesheriff. Highway 75 has been closing intermittently due to fire, smoke or firefighting operations. All area residents should register for emergency alerts through the Blaine County website, at blainecounty.org. If you are advised to evacuate, leave immediately. The fire was mapped early Friday morning at 64,236 acres, though that figure will go up with additional analysis overnight . Containment is now at six percent, a decrease due to the increase in the size of the perimeter. One home, a bunkhouse and five other structures have been destroyed. Details about the fire are available at inciweb.org/incident/3635/. Residents can register for the Everbridge emergency alert system at BlaineCounty.org by clicking on the Emergency Alert Program tab on the left hand side of the page. Fire information lines are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 877-647-0663, 877-711-1333 and 877-640-3904.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 04:56:44 +0000
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