fires in Montana:
PINE RIDGE COMPLEX, Southern Land Office, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. A Type 1 Incident Management Team (Bennett) has been ordered. This complex, comprised of five fires, is 30 miles east of Billings, MT in sagebrush and agricultural fields.
Evacuations are in progress. Numerous residences, ranches, rangeland, agricultural crops, timber, powerlines, petroleum pipelines and a rest area are threatened. Weather and ongoing drought conditions are hindering containment. Extreme fire behavior was observed. 20,000 acres, 10% contained.
BUNDY RAILROAD, Billings District, Bureau of Land Management. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (McNitt) will assume command today. This fire is eight miles northeast of Worden, MT in timber, grass and sagebrush. Evacuations are in effect for several ranches. High
winds, low relative humidity, and drought conditions are hampering efforts to contain the fire. Extreme fire behavior and rapid rates of spread were reported. 25,000 acres, 0% contained.
HORTON-HAY, Eastern Land Office, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Grant) has been ordered. This fire is 35 miles southwest of Miles City, MT in ponderosa pine, grass and sagebrush. Structures and utility
infrastructure are threatened. An evacuation order is in effect for the Moon Creek area. Rapid rates of spread and growth to the south were reported. 4,000 acres, 5% contained.
WATT DRAW, Miles City District, Bureau of Land Management. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Reid) has been ordered. This fire is 13 miles southeast of Ashland, MT in grass, timber and sagebrush. Three residences, outbuildings, and grazing allotments are threatened. Isolated
torching, running, and spotting were observed. 1,300 acres, 10% contained.
SHANE RIDGE, Southern Land Office, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Heintz) is assigned. This fire is 10 miles southeast of Columbus, MT in timber, grass and understory. Significant progress was made in
completing the control line. Single and group tree torching was observed. The Team is also managing the Saunders fire. 806 acres, 75% contained.
IRON JAW, Eastern Land Office, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. This fire is 15 miles southwest of Miles City, MT in timber and grass. No further information was
received. 200 acres, 80% contained.
SAUNDERS, Southern Land Office, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Heintz) is assigned. This fire is four miles west of Columbus, MT in grass and timber. Numerous residences remain threatened. Brumfield and Countryman Creek Roads remain closed to non-residents. Minimal fire behavior with smoldering in heavy woody material and deep duff was reported. 3,175 acres, 95% contained.
http://gacc.nifc.gov/nrcc/information/information.htm
Blaze update
Wildfires threatening to merge
YUCCA VALLEY (AP) — A 53,000-acre wildfire crept through tinder-dry Mojave Desert brush and Joshua trees as of about noon Friday to within a half-mile of another blaze in the San Bernardino National Forest, threatening to merge into an unpredictable wave of flame that could burn its way toward a mountain full of dead trees.
The Sawtooth fire that destroyed more than 150 homes and buildings earlier this week was 20 percent contained but it was burning through dense, dead brush in a desert canyonland that has not burned in recent decades, authorities said at a morning briefing for firefighters.
A half-mile away, the 8,300-acre Millard fire (which is the result of four smaller fires) was burning in the San Gorgonio wilderness, a forest area southwest of the Sawtooth blaze. It posed a threat to about 75 scattered homes and was just 5 percent surrounded.
“The fires are very close together. … it’s likely that will occur today,” fire spokesman Rick Vogt said.
“If they come together, there’s a potential for significant fire behavior,” said Glenn Barley, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry.
He said large fires can create their own weather patterns.
“It can make for strong, erratic winds,” Barley said.
The main concern is that the huge fire front would leap up ridges and devour thousands of trees killed by drought and bark beetle infestations.
Both fires were sparked by lightning, and a chance of thunderstorms over the weekend brought concern that new blazes might erupt in the parched stretches of the Mojave Desert and foothills, where temperatures this week have hit triple digits.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/2006/115290641742682.html