Single Publication

There will be a community meeting in Salmon tonight at 6 PM at the Idaho Fish and Game Office 

Acres: 14, 745  

Containment: 0% 

Personnel: 624 

Summary: The Hayden Fire started on Wednesday, July 19th, 2023, at approximately 11:30 am. The fire is located in the Lemhi Range, 18 miles west of Leadore, Idaho. The fire is burning in steep and difficult terrain with spruce/subalpine fir containing a heavy dead/down timber component. Fire cause is undetermined.  The Hayden Fire is a full suppression fire. Firefighters are working long hours every day working to contain the fire as quickly as they can, impacting the fewest acres possible.   

Weather: THERE IS A RED FLAG WARNING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY.  Southwesterly winds with gusts up to 35 miles per hour will persist over the fire today. Combined with low relative humidity, critical fire weather conditions are once again predicted. These unfavorable conditions will persist throughout the week.  

Actions: Most of the fire activity and growth has been occurring from the East Fork of Hayden Creek into Little Mill Creek, Bates Gulch, and Jack Smith Gulch.  The fire perimeter is still within primary containment lines. In areas where those lines are completed, crews are increasing the depth of those lines or constructing contingency lines.  In an effort to build an anchor point to continue containment lines in the northern area of the fire, resources conducted burnout operations supported by aviation in the vicinity of Kadletz Creek and the Bear Valley Road.  

Important Information: The Lemhi County Sheriff’s Department in coordination with the Salmon-Challis National Forest and Great Basin Team 7 has pre-identified evacuation zones. They will be implemented using the “Ready, Set, Go” terminology, for more information on the evacuation zones please visit the Lemhi County website at lemhicountyidaho.org. Information on “ready, set, go” is available on the Hayden Fire Inciweb page. 

The Salmon-Challis National Forest has a revised closure order in place to help protect firefighter and public safety.  Maps and additional information are available on the Alerts and Notices section of the SCNF website.  Risk to responders and public safety remains the highest priority for the incident management team. 

The U.S. Forest Service, Idaho Department of Lands, and Bureau of Land Management in east-central Idaho will begin Stage 1 fire restrictions, effective at just after midnight (12:01 am) on Friday, July 28, 2023.