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.
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.
Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Batterman Fire as late at 4:01 a.m. PDT July 5, 2021.
The Batterman Fire spread rapidly Sunday after it started at about 12:15 p.m. PDT running through grass and brush. The fire is east of Wenatchee, Washington about a mile east of the Pangborn Memorial Airport. It was pushed to the east by a wind that increased throughout the afternoon from the west and northwest at 15 to 22 mph after 5 p.m. while the relative humidity was in the teens and the temperature topped out at 97 degrees.
Monday morning evacuation orders (Level 3) were in effect for Rock Island Grade Road.
On Sunday helicopters and airtankers dropped water and retardant in areas inaccessible to engines. As of Monday at 8 a.m. no structures had been destroyed.
Batterman Fire, July 4, 2021. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office photo.
The Southeast Washington Type 3 Interagency Incident Management Team led by Incident Commander Walter Escobar assumed command of the incident Sunday night. Firefighters worked through the night on structure protection and to secure the perimeter near Rock Island Road.
On Monday more firefighting resources from out of the area are expected to arrive.
Batterman Fire, July 4, 2021. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office photo.
The forecast for Monday is for 93 degrees, winds out of the northwest at 8 to 16 mph, with 21 percent relative humidity.
Back in the old days, before 2015, Forestry Technicians had to pay for their own boots. During my second year with the Forest Service, my initial year on the El Cariso Hot Shots, our first large fire that year in 1970 was the Safety Harbor Fire at Lake Chelan, Washington. After flying from Southern California in a Forest Service DC-3 we were hauled on a bus to a boat launch on the west side of the lake. From there we got on a sightseeing boat usually used for tourists, which took us across to the other side, where we were the initial attack on the fire. (Yeah, I KNOW. From Southern California, we were the first Forestry Technicians on the fire. Needless to say, there were a bunch of fires burning in the area and the locals were a little busy.)
El Cariso Hotshots and other firefighters on a boat being ferried across Lake Chelan to the Safety Harbor Fire in 1970. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
After two or three weeks we had a day of R&R. Some of us, including myself who had found that our boots were inadequate for Hotshot work, were taken to a shoe store in a nearby town. It was early in the season and most of us had very little money, and no credit cards. Our crew Superintendent, Ron Campbell, worked with the Finance Section to arrange for a Commissary-like process for us to buy new boots and for the funds to come out of our pay.
We all proudly walked out of the store wearing new, shiny Whites — which at the time was the preeminent footwear for firefighters and loggers. I think I paid $65 for mine, a week’s pay.
Later I heard that when the paperwork was being processed, one of the clerks in the office wondered why firefighters were buying white boots. “Won’t they just get dirty?” she said.
El Cariso Hotshots at a spike camp on the Safety Harbor Fire in Washington, 1970. We had just been chased out of a canyon after the fire blew up, like it did every afternoon around 2 p.m. In the foreground is the tub for heating “Continental Cuisine” frozen hairnet-bag meals. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
The bill enhances wildfire suppression capability, forest health, and community resilience
Cougar Creek Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF, Washington. Photo by Kari Greer, August 16, 2018.
Legislation appropriating additional funding to beef up Washington state’s wildland fire suppression capability on the ground and in the air passed unanimously in the Senate Friday. It had already passed the House in the same manner and now heads back to the House which will accept or reject the changes made in the Senate. The legislative session is slated to adjourn April 25.
The number of acres burned in Washington wildfires last year, 812,000, was more than four times the average in the 2000s. In eastern Washington, 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed by the Babb-Malden Fire in September, 2020. The number of acres blackened in Oregon last year, just across the border, was the second highest ever recorded.
The bill appropriates $125 million for the Department of Natural Resources to create for the first time a dedicated fund to suppress and mitigate wildfires over the next two-year budget period.
A similar bill was introduced last year but failed to pass, possibly because it also stipulated that a portion of the funds would be raised by establishing a surtax on home insurance premiums. This latest version left it up to the legislators to come up with a source for the money.
For two of the last three years, Washington had the worst air quality in the world due to smoke from wildfires.
The requested funds can be sorted into four categories:
Wildfire Response — $75.2 million
The bill creates positions for 100 more firefighters, adding three 20-person hand crews, 20 dozer operators, and two 10-person “post-release” crews comprised of formerly incarcerated persons who served on state fire response crews.
The bill also allows the purchase of two intelligence gathering fixed wing aircraft to be used on fires. Their ten very old UH-1H Huey helicopters would receive upgrades of some systems including night-flying capabilities. Washington does not own any air tankers, but in 2020 they had approximately six privately owned single engine air tankers (SEATS) on contract.
Forest Restoration — $31.4 million
The legislation fully funds and accelerates the DNR’s 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan, which calls for restoring natural wildfire resistance to 1.25 million acres of forest.
Workforce Development — $5.9 million
Provides career pathways for foresters, firefighters and mill workers.
Community Resilience — $12.6 million
Makes investments at the home, neighborhood, and community levels to reduce wildfire risk and protect communities. Includes investments in defensive strategies at the community level such as fuel breaks, prescribed fire, and creating defensible green space, plus direct assistance to home owners to secure their property and neighborhood with programs like FireWise.
