East Slide Rock Ridge News Release 08/30/08
Incident: East Slide Rock Ridge Wildfire
Released: 8/30/2008
(Elko, NV) - Today will be a critical day for firefighters due to high winds in advance of a cold front that will pass through the area on Monday. The National Weather Service has upgraded the Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning beginning at noon and continuing through 9 p.m. Southwesterly winds with gusts up to 40 miles per hour on the ridge tops are expected from late afternoon through early evening.
"We've done everything we can to prepare for today's weather event," said Incident Commander Paul Summerfelt, "but our containment lines will surely be tested today."
The primary area of fire activity on Friday was on the south flank of the fire in the Cottonwood Creek drainage. Three smoke columns were visible throughout most of the afternoon as heavy pockets of fuel burned. Late afternoon the winds shifted and the southwesterly flow carried the fire back on itself. Other hot spots were in the central and east-central portions of the fire and firefighters will be monitoring these areas today.
On the southeast side of the fire, a second dozer line was constructed yesterday between the Forest boundary and the Incident Command Post at Cottonwood Ranch in case the fire makes a run eastward. Firefight ers also worked several spot fires to the west of Sawmill Ridge. They continued to strengthen and mop-up containment lines on the north flank. The fire is now 25 percent contained.
Due to the large fire perimeter and the possibility for rapid fire movement, the Incident Management Team will be using a Radiometric Airborne Mapping System, or RAMS, to assist with identifying areas and type (open flame, smoldering, or buried) of heat. RAMS units assist ground resources by providing accurate GPS coordinates which help them locate areas needing work.
Residents and visitors to the area are reminded to use extreme caution when traveling along the Highway 93 corridor and other roads in the vicinity of the fire due to heavy fire traffic.
By The Numbers
Acres: 48,157
Containment: 25 percent
Personnel: 704
Type 1 Hotshot Crews: 7
Type 2 Crews: 7
Helicopters: 7
Engines: 29
Dozers: 7
Water Tenders: 20
Support Personnel: 267
CLOSURE EXTENDED
The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Bureau of Land Management have extended the closure area surrounding the fire. The closure area includes lands south of the Idaho/Nevada border, east of Three Day Creek Road over to the easternmost Forest boundary, including the Red Elephant Butte, Elk Mountain, and Lime Creek areas.
If you are planning a trip over the next week, please contact a local Forest Service Office or visit the Forest website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf for a map, description of the closure, and other recreational opportunities. The closure is in place to provide for both public and firefighter safety and will be lifted when that danger has passed.
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