Lava Mountain Fire northwest of Dubois, Wyoming

Lava Mountain Fire
Lava Mountain Fire July 18, 2016 InciWeb

In the first 13 days since starting from a lightning strike, the Lava Mountain Fire 12 miles northwest of Dubois, Wyoming had been steadily growing, but generally not at a rapid pace. That began to change on Sunday when the rate of spread picked up significantly and it added an additional 1,200 acres for a total of 5,488 acres. On Monday it added at least that much again and according to our very rough, unofficial estimate had burned approximately 7,000 acres by 3 p.m. on Monday.

Most of the recent growth is on the south and southeast sides.

map Lava Mountain Fire
The red dots represent heat detected on the Lava Mountain Fire by a satellite at 3:01 p.m. MDT July 25, 2016. The red line was the fire perimeter mapped by an infrared aircraft at 11 p.m. MDT July 24, 2016. Click to enlarge.

Currently, the south flank of the fire is pushing east and hooking around near the Sand Butte area. According to information released by the incident management team on July 25, “If the direction of spread continues, the fire will be lined up to be pushed by the wind towards the Union Pass road. For these reasons the following areas are in stage “GO” and should evacuate immediately: Union Pass, Warm Springs, Porcupine, and Hat Butte.”

The weather forecast for the fire area calls for strong winds Monday night, but slowing on Tuesday and Wednesday to come out of the west and southwest at 6 to 13 mph. The temperatures will be in the high 70’s and relative humidity in the teens through Wednesday.