8/7/16 Kewa Fire Update

NW 9 Incident Management Team, Brian Goff, Incident Commander 

Current Size: 1,966 acres

 Percent Containment: 45%

Location: 15 miles south of Inchelium, WA on the Colville Indian Reservation

Saturday’s actions

· Crews continued mop up to the interior on the east and north sides of the fire.

· Helicopters delivered blivets to the remote west side of the fire. A blivet is a pyramid shaped bag for transporting water to firefighters.

Today’s plan 

· On the west side of the fire hand crews are using extended hose lays to continue mop up from the line toward the interior. Engine crews continue to do the same along the east side of the fire.

· Mop up operations have been completed on the south end of the fire, which is now in a patrol status. Firefighters are using an infared camera to locate isolated pockets of heat. Unlike common cameras that use visible light to capture images, infared cameras detect radiant heat.

· Resources on the fire today include 20 engines; 10 water tenders; 14 crews; four FireBosses; two Type1, one Type2 and one Type3 helicopters, an air attack, two skidgens, and three dozers.

A burnout is possible if conditions are favorable 

· A dozer line was constructed to prevent fire from spreading out of a bowl on the fire’s west side.

· Fire is active at lower levels of the bowl with torching, crowning and up-slope runs.

· Fire managers may use a burnout to decrease fuels between the active fire and the dozer line. If conditions are favorable later today, firefighters will start the burnout near ridgetops to take advantage of early evening down-slope winds.

· If weather changes and fire behavior moderates, fire managers will evaluate other tactics.

Evacuations and Closures 

· Due to reduced risks from the fire, Level 3 evacuations have been reduced to Level 2.

· Kewa-Meteor Road is closed between Twin Lakes-Nez Perce Road to Silver Creek Road

· Kewa Road is closed between Kewa-Meteor Road to Silver Creek Road

Incident objectives: Provide for safety of firefighters and the public, minimize acres burned, protect natural resources, keep communities and interested parties informed of fire and fire management actions, coordinate with emergency managers and cooperators, and track suppression actions.