#BullGinComplex Daily Update—September 23, 2022
The Bill Gin Complex is currently 4,254 acres and 32% completed.
Breakdown by Fire:
Government Fire: 2,763 acres
Billiard Fire: 1,201 acres
Isabella Lake Fire: 290 acres
HIGHLIGHTS: Yesterday’s rain significantly reduced fire activity throughout the Complex, with some areas receiving up to 0.8” of precipitation. Today’s focus is on patrol and suppression repair. Along cold sections of each fire, crews will remove unneeded hose lays and pumps, as is feasible. Firefighters will also complete mopping up the Wanless Fire, the new start that occurred two days ago.
Government Fire: Firefighting efforts, combined with the rain, have successfully kept the fire north of the Rock Creek control line. Firefighters continue to patrol and mop up the fire, especially in the southern area near private residences. Mastication in the southwest portion of the fire continues.
Billiard Fire: Crews will continue gridding and advancing suppression repair work, with a focus on removing debris from culverts. Excavators will repair dozer and handline.
Isabella Lake Fire: The fire continues to be monitored by air resources.
WEATHER: The area of low pressure responsible for yesterday’s rain left the area last night. A ridge of high pressure is building back up and will continue into early next week. The result will be slowly increasing temperatures and decreasing humidity.
EVACUATIONS: On September 8th, the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office placed the residents along Government Mountain Road and Timber Ridge Road into pre-evacuation status. For status of emergency conditions, please sign up for Sanders County Emergency Alerts at 406-203-0082.
CLOSURES: Government Mountain Road and Rock Creek Road are closed to the public. The Noxon Refuse Site remains open during regular hours. Area, road, and trail closures are in place for the Government, Billiard, and Isabella Lake Fires to provide for public safety and firefighting operations. See Inciweb for maps and closure descriptions: https://bit.ly/KootenaiNFClosures.
WHEN WILL IT BE OUT? Even though the Complex received rain yesterday, smoke will persist. The fires will remain in areas where the canopy prevented dry fuels from receiving moisture and where large burning snags and log continue to consume. It will take a season-ending event to extinguish these fires. This event will include sustained lower temperatures, shorter burning periods, increased relative humidity, shorter sunlight duration, and significant moisture.
WHAT IS SUPRESSION REPAIR? Wildfire suppression repair is a set of different actions (immediately taken) to repair damages caused by firefighting activities. It can include repairing culverts, restoring roads and trails to their pre-fire condition, reducing the appearance of dozer and hand line, and other suppression activities. The goal of suppression repair is to immediately minimize the potential of soil erosion and other negative impacts resulting from fire suppression activities.
PDF Version: https://bit.ly/BullGinComplexDailyUpdate092322
Original source can be found here.
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