On Wednesday, June 4, 2018, a specially trained group from the U.S. Forest Service began a small, controlled fire that would target 4,000 acres of downed timber and other dry or dying kindling materials. Only about 2,400 acres of that space would actually be burned. The burn was 2-3 days in and almost complete when unexpected winds, in excess of 55 mph, came roaring into the area. The fire jumped the containment line and is still burning to date. The fire has ballooned to 16,837 acres and is 59% contained.
Crews have implemented a full-suppression strategy to contain the fire. A high voltage power line is in the path of the fire but has not been significantly damaged. It has been turned off. One cabin near Whetstone Creek was burned June 11. No other structures at present are in the path of the fire. The weather, which caused the spread, continues to play its part. Cooler air behind a cold front will bring temperatures 6-8 degrees cooler today, Friday, June 22. Relative humidity will be a bit higher and winds will blow from the northwest at 12-18 mph with gusts near 30 mph. Saturday will have hotter and drier weather and possible red flag conditions which could once again accelerate the fire’s growth.
NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the fire and smoke blowing from it on June 21, 2018 with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument. Actively burning areas (hot spots), detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. Each hot spot is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire. NASA image courtesy of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) project. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.