10:41 a.m. MDT July 9, 2021
The fires in Western Idaho and Southeast Washington were very active and continued to expand Thursday night.
The Shovel Creek Fire east of the Snake River 20 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho was mapped at 16,066 acres. It is being managed by a Type 3 Incident Management Team led by Incident Commander Miller.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the wildfires in Southeast Washington and West Idaho, including the most recent, click HERE.)
The Captain John Creek Fire is just north of the Shovel Creek Fire and the two are likely to merge. By our estimate it has burned at least 5,000 acres based on satellite imagery.
The Hoover Ridge Fire is 25 miles south of Lewiston, 6 miles east of the Shovel Creek Fire. We estimate it has burned about 2,000 acres.
The Dixie Fire is just east of the small community of Dixie, Idaho, east of Road NF-222. On Thursday it had burned about 11,000 acres but has grown since then.
The 1,300-acre Jumbo Fire is seven miles west of the Dixie Fire. They are both being managed by the same Type 1 Incident Management Team, Northern Rockies Team 2.
In Washington the lightning-caused Dry Gulch and Lick Creek Fires 9 miles southwest of Lewiston, Idaho merged and are now known as the Dry Gulch Fire. Friday morning the revised size was 19,346 acres due to more accurate mapping. The fire behavior is being described as extreme, structures are threatened, and evacuations are in effect.
8:02 p.m. MDT July 8, 2021
The lightning that came through Washington, Idaho, and Montana Tuesday and Wednesday started many wildfires, in large part due to the dry fuels and the fact that little or no rain accompanied the lightning.
On July 7, 106 new fires were discovered in the Northern Rockies Geographic Area which includes Northern Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.
The area where three states converge, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, has seen a lot of wildfire activity over the last two days. Some of the blazes started yesterday, July 7, and may be related to the dry lightning, but the causes for all fires have not been determined.
The Shovel Creek Fire started from lightning July 7 and has burned at least 6,000 acres in Western Idaho just east of the Snake River very close to the point where the three states meet. It is 20 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho. The river is the boundary between Idaho and the other two states. The fire is being fully suppressed by the Northern Rockies Team 4, with Incident Commander Connell.
There are two other large fires near the Shovel Creek Fire in Idaho — one is two miles north, about 1,100 acres, and the other is six miles east, approximately 1,300 acres. We were not able to determine the name of those two.
The 11,000-acre Dixie Fire is just east of the small community of Dixie, Idaho, east of Road NF-222. It has been burning since July 5 and is being managed by a Type 1 Incident Management Team which is expected to assume command July 9. The team’s strategy is four-fold, 25 percent each: monitor, confine, point protection, and suppression.
The Jumbo Fire has burned about 571 acres 8 miles west of the Dixie Fire. It started from lightning July 6 and is being managed by a Type 3 Team led by Bransford. They have multiple strategies: monitor, confine, and point protection.
There are two large fires in southeast Washington about 15 miles southwest of Lewiston, Idaho. Heat detected by satellites at 2:48 p.m. Thursday indicates that they probably have burned together or merged with other blazes. The fire names are Dry Gulch and Lick Creek and they both started July 7 and are being fully suppressed. As of Thursday afternoon the Dry Gulch had burned 27,929 acres and the Lick Creek was last mapped at 1,500. Extreme fire behavior was observed on both.
Thank you .. best straight up info I’ve found so far here in the clarkston heights WA. Its heading our way .. lots of smoke and ash now.
The fire just north of Shovel Creek is the Captain John Creek Fire, and the other to the east is the Hoover Ridge Fire, according to Grangeville WildCAD data.
Thanks!