Wildfires in Southeast Washington and Western Idaho. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 4:12 a.m. PDT July 10, 2021.
The fires in Western Idaho and Southeast Washington were very active Friday and into the night.
The Shovel Creek Fire east of the Snake River merged with the Captain John Creek Fire just to the north, 13 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho. It is being managed with the Hoover Ridge Fire 5 miles to the east in what is now the Snake River Complex of fires. Together, they have burned 31,900 acres. On Saturday the Type 3 Incident Management Team is transitioning to the Type 2 Northern Rockies Team 4. The plan for Saturday is to establish an operational strategy and continue point protection. Boats are being used to shuttle firefighters on the Snake River.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the wildfires in Southeast Washington and West Idaho, including the most recent, click HERE.)
Snake River Complex July 9, 2021. InciWeb photo.
The Dixie Fire is just east of the small community of Dixie, Idaho, east of Road NF-222. Friday night it was mapped at about 13,000 acres. It is burning in mixed conifer stands with 40-60% standing dead trees in some areas. Old fire scars with heavy accumulations of down fuels are slowing the fire but are not barriers to fire spread. Long range spotting is occurring. If the fire activity increases, the incident management team said, it could prompt structure protection in the communities of Dixie and Comstock, and along the Salmon River at the Jim Moore and Whitewater Ranches.
The 1,300-acre Jumbo Fire is seven miles west of the Dixie Fire. They are both being managed by the Type 1 Northern Rockies Incident Management 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. It has burned about 38,000 acres, an increase of 13,000. Structures are threatened and evacuations are in effect. Most of the growth Friday was to the southwest where it is moving into higher elevations and heavier vegetation.
Beckwourth Complex, Sugar Fire 12:59 a.m. July 10, 2021.
The Sugar Fire, the only active wildfire in the Beckwourth Complex of fires, spread rapidly Friday afternoon, exhibiting extreme fire behavior for hours as it ran to the east and northeast. Friday night on the east side it burned east out of the Plumas National Forest onto a narrow strip of the Lassen National Forest and then to the border of private land. Beyond that, the terrain and vegetation transition, where firefighters were confident they could slow or stop the spread using dozers and fire engines.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Sugar Fire and the Beckwourth Complex, including the most recent, click HERE.)
New mandatory immediate evacuations were ordered Friday afternoon. Details are on InciWeb and Facebook.
The Sugar Fire has burned approximately 54,400 acres.
The video below of the Sugar Fire was shot from the Chilcoot camera south of the fire, looking north-northwest during the afternoon of July 9, 2021. It compresses three hours of extreme fire behavior into six minutes. During the entire time, pyrocumulus clouds are being created and maintained. Extraordinary. A decade ago pyrocumulus were not common. Now they are almost ubiquitous on large fires.
Updated 5:29 p.m. PDT July 9, 2021
Beckwourth Complex of fires. The red dots represent heat detected by satellites at 1:24 p.m. PDT July 9, 2021. The white line was the perimeter at 9:24 p.m. PDT July 8, 2021.
We have an updated map (above) of the Sugar Fire showing data from a satellite overflight at 1:24 p.m. PDT July 9, 2021.
Saturday morning it was mapped at more than 79,000 acres.
Updated 10:47 a.m. PDT July 10, 2021
Map of the Bootleg Fire, showing heat detected by satellites as late as 4:12 a.m. PDT July 10, 2021.
The Bootleg Fire was extremely active again Friday, spreading to the north and east while sending up a very large plume of smoke to the northwest that traveled for hundreds of miles.
The fire was mapped at 10:02 p.m. PDT July 9 which determined it had added 29,000 acres over the previous 24 hours to reach a new total of more than 76,000 acres.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Bootleg Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
The fire is 5 miles north of Beatty, 28 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, and 20 miles east of Chiloquin.
Resources assigned include 11 hand crews, 51 fire engines, 2 dozers, 3 water tenders, and no helicopters for a total of 580 personnel.
Mandatory leave-now evacuations are in effect:
North of the town of Beatty. North end of Godawa Springs Road north of the rock quarry.
Near the town of Sprague River. Upper Tableland area north of Oregon Pines Road.
North of the town of Beatty. Sycan Estates area.
About 3,000 homes and a major interstate power line are threatened.
8:38 a.m. PDT July 9, 2021
Bootleg Fire. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 2 a.m. PDT July 9, 2021. The white line was the perimeter approximately 24 hours before.
The Bootleg Fire in south-central Oregon more than doubled in size Thursday as it ran for more than 5 miles to the east while Red Flag Warnings were in effect. At 11:07 p.m. Thursday it was 38,892 acres, or 61 square miles.
The fire is 6 miles north of Beatty, 28 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, and 21 miles east of Chiloquin.
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.
Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires in the Northwest U.S., at 7:30 p.m. MDT July 8, 2021. NASA.
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
Northern Idaho and Southeast Washington Fires, 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.
The Lolo National Forest in Montana reported two new fires Wednesday night exhibiting crowning and spotting fire behavior
9:42 a.m. MDT July 8, 2021
Lighting, 24 hours previous to 7:59 a.m. MDT July 8, 2021.
Wednesday’s lightning that battered parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota came with little or no precipitation.
Wednesday night the Lolo National Forest west of Missoula, MT reported that they were working on three new fires, including two that were each 30 to 50 acres and exhibiting crowning and spotting fire behavior.
Thursday afternoon there could be more thunderstorms in Western Montana, some of which could become severe with powerful wind and large hail. Gusty winds across the state will elevate the fire danger. The forecast for Helena calls for 13 to 16 mph winds gusting out of the northwest at 20 to 28 mph with relative humidity in the teens.
Precipitation, 24 hours previous to 8:40 a.m. MDT, July 8, 2021.Red Flag Warnings, July 8, 2021
From the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Wednesday evening, July 7:
Widespread lightning, accompanied by very little precipitation, moved through overnight impacting the Idaho Panhandle National Forests and the greater region. Numerous fires have been reported and confirmed. The fires are all currently in the initial attack phase with an all-hands-on-deck interagency response. In addition to engines, water tenders, hand crews, and helicopters, large air tankers are also supporting fire managers with 3,000 gallon loads of retardant loading from the Coeur d Alene Tanker Base.
More information will be available as management shifts from initial attack into extended attack, if needed.
Air tankers at Pappy Boyington Field in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, July 7, 2021. USFS photo.
