Parmenter Fire Update - July 30, 2008
Incident: Parmenter Wildland Fire
Released: 7/30/2008
Parmenter Fire Update
Information Officers: Terina Mullen & Tom Rhode
@ (406) 293-2418 or 208-0934
Office hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Incident: Wildland fire, human-caused, reported on July 26, 2008
Location: 1.5 miles west of Libby, MT on Plum Creek Timber Company land
Jurisdiction: Kootenai National Forest, Libby Ranger District & Libby Rural Fire Department
Cooperating Agencies: Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and Office of Emergency Management, Libby and Cabinet View VFD, and MT-DNRC.
Incident Commander: Mark Grant, Northern Rockies Type II Incident Management Team (IMT). The Incident Command Post is located at the Libby Fire Cache.
Current Size: 130 acres Containment: 80%
Yesterday's Activity: Firefighters mopped up 100 feet into the black and continued to patrol the containment line. Night operations were utilized to patrol all lines for spot fires. Air resources assisted with a new initial attack start in the area. A storm cell passed over the fire area later than predicted. Winds picked up at approximately 6:00 p.m. No precipitation was received.
Current Resources: The number of firefighters on the incident is 170. Resources assigned include six crews, three dozers, two helicopters, three engines and five water tenders.
Today's Strategy: Firefighting personnel will continue with mop up, securing and maintaining the fireline. The weather forecast calls for a very windy day; however, more favorable firefighting conditions are expected (slight chance of precipitation, higher relative humidity, and cloud cover in the morning hours).
Special Messages/Closures: The Kootenai National Forest has two closures in effect to provide for public safety during periods of active fire in the Parmenter fire area. The Hemphill Road (#8837) is closed, and the Parmenter Creek Trail (#140) is closed from the trailhead to the junction with the Parmenter Tie Trail (#15). Forest users may access the upper Parmenter Creek Trail by using the Flower Creek Trailhead.
Vegetation is drying out, and fire danger on the Kootenai National Forest is HIGH to VERY HIGH. Please use extreme caution when enjoying the outdoors!
For further information, visit www.libbymt.com or http://www.inciweb.org/; Select "Parmenter"
