8/9/16 Kewa Fire Update

NW 9 Incident Management Team, Brian Goff, Incident Commander

Start date:  8/2/2016      Current Size:  1,912 acres      Percent Containment: 65%                        Location:  15 miles south of Inchelium, WA on the Colville Indian Reservation

Evacuation Levels Reduced

·         Evacuation levels have been reduced to a level 1 throughout the fire area.

Today’s plan

·         Fire crews are making good progress on the fire and will continue to mop up along firelines.

·         Total resources on the fire: 581, including 16 crews; 20 engines; 17 water tenders; five skidgens, and four dozers; two helicopters, an air attack, and four FireBosses, available, if needed.

·         Today’s forecast is cloudy with a chance of showers; the fire could experience heavy rain and strong winds if a thunderstorm passes over the area. A warming trend will develop over the next few days.

Determining Fire Behavior

·         Fire behavior is influenced by many factors, primarily weather, fuel conditions and terrain.

·         Energy Release Component (ERC) measures fuel moisture and the cumulative effect of drying fuels over a fire season for a particular area. ERC is a measure of fire danger.

·         This Gold Mountain chart, which includes the Kewa fire area, compares this year (purple dotted line) to the average (gray line) or to severe years, like 2015 (light blue line). 

            

·         Local fire danger typically peaks in mid-August and often continues well into October.

·         So, today’s rain may moderate fire behavior for a few days.  But predicted warm, dry weather later this week will likely lead to normal seasonal conditions for the next few weeks. This means the Kewa fire may experience interior flare ups and smoke for the remainder of the season.

Road Closures

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

·         Kewa Road is closed between Kewa-Meteor Road and 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.