The Colt Fire slowed its pace on Tuesday, July 25, giving firefighters time to prep containment lines and stop the spread of spot fires.
There is no acreage update for Wednesday, July 26, as cloud cover prevented infrared flight mapping. Tuesday morning clocked in at 4,390 acres with 0% containment. The growth is likely less than Monday, when a dry cold front helped burn more than 1,000 acres on the day.
Fire conditions are expected to be moderate for the rest of the week, with active burning on the edges of the fire. With a slower-spreading blaze, fire managers said they will continue with the plan for full suppression before the hottest month of the year — August — settles in.
“We’re taking advantage of the contingent of resources that we have right now to take aggressive action,” Northern Rockies Team One Incident Commander Brent Olson said at a public meeting Tuesday. “Knowing that that could change, it would be irresponsible to not consider other options.”
Olson said at the meeting that there are a lot of positives working in favor of the firefighters, including plenty of manpower and equipment. More than 460 firefighters were on the blaze as of July 26, including 12 handcrews, 14 engines, seven helicopters and lots of heavy machinery.
Olson warned that these resources might not be as available later in the summer, when other fires will likely spark and demand resources. That’s one reason Olson hopes to get the fire contained while conditions are better.
He often compared the RIce Ridge Fire to the Colt Fire during his public presentation on Tuesday. Olson was also Incident Manager for Rice Ridge. The Colt Fire started by lightning on July 17, while the Rice Ridge Fire sparked from lightning on July 24.
“Our intention is to try to keep it as small as possible. We also recognize that conditions aren't on our side,” Olson said. “Its early in the fire season still, many of you remember how late into the year the Rice Ridge Fire went. We are hopeful that that is not the kind of situation we are in, but we are realistic about that potential.”
The Rice Ridge Fire was only at 38,000 acres by Sept. 1, 2017, but the fire jumped to nearly 100,000 acres overnight. Olson said he hopes to not repeat that again with the Colt Fire by getting containment lines set on roads around the area.
The main containment line along Forest Service Road 646 — parallel to the chain of lakes — has mostly been held along a stretch of fire perimeter on the northeastern side. Several spot fires did cross the line on Monday, burning closer to the Rainy Lake.
Operations Manager Andy Huntsberger said all of those spots have been mopped up by hotshot crews and should be contained. Fire crews plan to burn out sections of the road to back into the fire to secure that flank.
Other containment lines have been developed on the West Fork of the Clearwater River, and to the north on Beaver Creek Road. Hand crews are trying to open old logging roads to get into the northwest flank, which is in remote and rugged country.
The fire started and is still burning in heavy dead and down fuels. Some areas reportedly have wood stacked four-to-five feet.
“Once the fire was detected, we immediately put resources on it, and we have not taken resources off it since,” Department of Natural Resource and Conservation Clearwater District head Kristin Baker Dickinson said. “It has been fully staffed the entire duration, and it is a full suppression fire.”
Seeley Lake District Ranger Quinn Carver said initial attack crews almost had a containment line around the whole fire on July 20, but the fire jumped the lines and separated crews from their fire engines. Hours later, Carver said fire crews called in the Type One Team.
Fire weather should be moderate on Wednesday, with a high of 80 degrees and humidity levels down to 20-30%. Torching and spotting are possible in the subalpine fir and lodgepole pine.
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