A wildfire that started about 25 miles northeast of Challis in the Salmon-Challis National Forest last week doubled in size over the weekend, topping 14,800 acres by Monday evening and prompting pre-evacuation orders in the Lemhi Valley on Monday.
The Hayden Fire ignited in fir and subalpine spruce along Hayden Creek around 11:30 a.m. July 19. Within a day of the fire, the U.S. Forest Service ordered two interagency “Type 1” fire teams of about 20 firefighters each and three “Type 1” Chinooks used for America’s largest wildland helicopters.
The fire is now slightly bounded by the Mill, Mogg and Long mountains to the east, south and west, respectively, according to the federal incident reporting site. InciWeb. Agencies have continued to respond aggressively to the blaze due to its erratic behavior, with 386 firefighters on the scene as of 6 p.m. Monday.
At a briefing Monday, Austin Catlin, director of operations for the Great Basin Coordination Center team assigned to the fire, said the fire experienced “a lot of growth” Sunday and overnight Monday due to hot, dry conditions, along with strong wind gusts and scattered thunderstorms.
Catlin said while crews made good progress creating fuel breaks on the northwest side of the fire with bulldozers, the fire grew “a lot” to the east Sunday and crossed a containment line. Firefighters working north of the fire also had to be pulled out yesterday for their safety, he said.
“We know it’s beyond 7,000 acres at this point,” Catlin said. “We have (air) resources to try to develop more accurate maps so we can update the surface more accurately.”
As of Monday morning, the Hayden fire was approaching a ridgeline “just above Leadore” and was “pretty visible from the town,” he said. The main focus now is on “the securities at risk in Lemhi County,” he added.
The glow of the fire was visible from Challis on the night of 24 July.
Shortly after Catlin’s announcement, Lemhi County Emergency Management announced via Facebook that five areas covering largely agricultural land west of Highway 28 between Tendoy and Leadore had been placed under pre-evacuation orders.
Zone 1, from Camp McFarland south to unincorporated Leadore, and Zone 3, which stretches from the unincorporated community of Lemhi west to Bear Valley Horse Camp, are currently in the “set up” stage, meaning anyone in the area should be prepared to evacuate “at a moment’s notice,” the county said.
Residents and visitors to these areas have been urged to pack a “travel bag” containing non-perishable food, bottled water, clothing, medicine and other essential supplies.
Dozens of livestock in the area are also being evacuated, Catlin said.
The cause of the Hayden fire is still unknown and containment is still 0%.
“I can say definitively that the cause was not a prescribed fire because there have been no prescribed fire operations since last spring and in the vicinity of the Hayden fire,” Forest Supervisor Chuck Mark told the Express on Friday.
A plume of smoke from the fire could be seen as far away as Billings, Montana on July 24. Meanwhile, air quality was rated “unhealthy” throughout Lemhi County.
This is a developing story. For updated reports, visit mtexpress.com and see the Wednesday, July 26 edition of the Mountain Express.
