WISE RIVER — Jay Winfield opened the meeting in the Wise River Community Center by empathizing with residents of the Big Hole Valley who have coped for two months with smoke and uncertainty from the Alder Creek Fire.
And uncertainty certainly colored the presentations Tuesday evening by Winfield and other members of the Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 6.
They warned residents of the region that weather conditions Wednesday, especially high winds, could cause the growing Alder Creek Fire to threaten structures on both sides of Highway 43.
Winfield noted also that Team 6, which assumed management of the Alder Creek, Trail Creek and Sand Lake fires a few days ago, is competing for firefighting resources around the West.
“We took this fire over with minimal resources,” he said.
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Winfield said there were “some stern, frank phone calls” Tuesday morning that yielded access to additional resources, including personnel — federal firefighters, contract firefighters, state and county firefighters — and additional aviation resources.
He said warm and dry conditions, paired with winds and low relative humidity and fuel loading in the forests, have caused the Alder Creek and Trail Creek fires to expand. Alder Creek is estimated to total about 30,875 acres, Trail Creek is said to total about 44,254 acres. Sand Lake is comparatively small, at 154 acres.
The team said weather conditions Wednesday could meet the criteria for a Haines Index of 6. The Haines Index measures the potential for dry, unstable air to contribute to the development of large or erratic wildfires. A Haines Index of 6 “means a high potential for an existing fire to become large or exhibit erratic fire behavior.”
The fire behavior analyst for Team 6 said a wind-driven Alder Creek Fire could throw embers across the Big Hole River and Highway 43 and initiate fires in dry grass and sagebrush.
As of about 3 p.m. Wednesday, winds were picking up in the vicinity of the Alder Creek Fire but no critical alerts had been issued, said Julie Thomas, a public information officer working the fire.
Beaverhead County officials moved earlier this week to evacuate 17 homes near Alder Creek.
Winfield said he was told that police from Anaconda-Deer Lodge County had spoken to residents of the Bear Gulch area about the possible need to evacuate. Police Chief Bill Sather did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Haystack Fire continued to burn east of Interstate 15 between Butte and Basin. The lightning-caused fire is believed to have started July 31 and is estimated to be about 166 acres.
Fire crews from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest responded to the fire with bucket drops from helicopters soon after the blaze was reported. The fire is moving in a “generally eastward direction,” the Forest Service said.
“The Haystack Fire is located in an area with large boulders, steep slopes, a large number of snags and difficult terrain,” the Forest Service said. The agency noted that concerns about firefighter safety rule out inserting personnel to fight the fire on the ground.