An infrared flight last night
showed no remaining heat in the Riley Fire of the Mt Adams Complex. The flight picked up a little heat on the
northern perimeter of the Horseshoe Fire, and a squad of firefighters today
will continue to mop up in that specific area and verify the fire will not
threaten to move into adjacent, unburned forest. The Canyon and 7 Lakes fires have been contained.
Firefighters who have spent the
past seven days at a spike camp at the Mt Adams Complex are coming out today
and much of their equipment is being back-hauled by helicopter, as management
of the Complex is transferred to a Type IV incident management organization,
under the direction of Whitney Machado, incident commander.
A palm infrared heat
detecting device has been used on 80 percent of the Horseshoe and Riley
fires. Today, crews will check the
remaining area for hot spots and finalize rehabilitation of the Riley Fire.
Both fires will be placed in patrol status tomorrow. Two crews will monitor
both fires daily to ensure the fires remain within the containment perimeter.
A Fire Weather Watch is
predicted for tonight through Saturday, and the Haines Index – a measure of the potential for dry, unstable air to
contribute to the development of large or erratic wildland fires – is expected
to rise to six, its highest level over the past two weeks. According to Brian
Gales, incident commander for the Washington Interagency Incident Management
Team #4, “Today will be a good test for our control perimeter prior to
transition to patrol status.”
Gales also said
that he appreciates the public interest in and support of the fire suppression
activities over the past two weeks. “Our firefighters have worked hard to
contain all of the fires in this Complex,” Gales said. “It is important to us
that we have the confidence and support of local citizens while engaged in such
difficult fire suppression activities and I want to thank the citizens and businesses
of Trout Lake and surrounding area for welcoming and accommodating our Team and
firefighters,” he said.
Starting July
18, 2015, Mt Adams Complex fire information will be available from the Mt Adams
Ranger District at 509-395-3400.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.