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Wildfire
Prescribed Fire
Burned Area
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- Wildfire
- Prescribed Fire
- Burned Area
Response
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Mill Lake & Blodgett Lake Fires for Sept 21, 2022
Mill Lake Fire
Publication Type: News 09/21/2022
Fire Name Acreage (estimated)
Blodgett Lake 2303 acres
Mill Lake 913 acres
Bear Creek 234 acres
Kootenai Creek: 1 acre
Summary:
Progress continues on a shaded fuel break east of the fire, where firefighters are working on containment lines west of the Bitterroot Valley. The fuel breaks are intended to provide a high probability of success for fire suppression should fire progress downslope on this or future fires. Firefighters encourage the public to be cautious of extra fire traffic in the Mill Creek area.
Afternoon winds increased smoldering fire behavior on Tuesday, creating smoke visible from the valley. Little growth occurred as the recent wet weather and shorter burn windows restricted growth. Fire managers expect smoke to remain visible from the valley in the coming weeks as warm and dry weather returns next week.
Firefighters are making progress in widening buffers on road #1325 using wood chippers to clear brush in tight turns and other vulnerable locations. Fire resources will again be stopping traffic at the intersection of FS-737 and FS-1325 to help complete the remaining work.
Structure protection personnel scouted structures adjacent to US Forest Service lands east of Big Creek, Bear Lake, Mill Lake, and Blodgett Lake Fires. Fire Managers and Structure Protection Specialists met with Bitterroot Valley Volunteer Fire Departments to review a Coordinated Response Plan for use in this or future Wildland fires. More information on the Coordinated Response Plan can be seen in a short video on the Discover Bitterroot National Forest Facebook page.
The Forest has implemented trail closures across the fire area. Refer to the Bitterroot National Forest website for details https://www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot
Weather:
Dry weather persists thru Wednesday, with wet conditions moving into the area in the evening. Weather forecasters predict a high likelihood of a wetting rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning before dry conditions return.
InciWeb: Mill Lake Fire: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8392/
Bitterroot National Forest Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot
Air Quality: https://fire.airnow.gov/
