Hayden Fire Update, August 13, 2023

“Pleased with the progress”, stated Chuck Mark, the Salmon-Challis Forest Supervisor at the planning meeting to Great Basin Incident Management Team 4. These were his sentiments after hearing the current status of fire suppression repair progress and the plan presented for the coming days.

Suppression repair work has continued with hand crews and heavy equipment making good progress repairing the landscape and previous firelines. Steep slopes, long distances to cover, and hazardous dead and down trees, are a variety of challenges that firefighters face. While simultaneously working firefighting operations and suppression repair efforts with heavy equipment, extra coordination and communication is needed to ensure safe operations.  

With the movement of numerous pieces of heavy equipment, one unique tactic that is being used protect the integrity of cattle guards and culverts, is to utilize used tires to drive over for added protection. Extra care and concern goes into causing the least amount of disturbance as possible. Crews are also completing fence repair where it was damaged from operations and cleaning up downed trees and scattering them to disperse fuels.

The majority of the remaining areas showing heat and smoke are in the same places and not causing concern. The upper Mores Creek drainage is still producing pockets of heat which remain in the confinement area. Firefighters continue to patrol for heat and fire growth.

The weather today will be slightly cooler in the 70s with relatively humid conditions ranging from 20% to 30%, and northerly winds with gusts up to 22 mph. Without any rain for several days, fuels are continuing to dry out and there is potential for more fire activity.

Evacuations:  All evacuation zones are currently in the ready status. The Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the local agencies and Incident Management Team, has identified evacuation zones. Please visit Lemhi County at www.lemhicountyidaho.org for a map and explanation of the zones.

Closures:  For the safety of firefighters and the public, the Salmon-Challis National Forest has enacted an area closure around the Hayden Fire.  A map and description of the closure area can be found at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-closures/idscf-hayden-fire. 

Fire Restrictions:  Stage 1 Fire Restrictions are in effect on the Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho Department of Lands, and Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction. For more information, please visit the Salmon-Challis National Forest’s Alerts and Notices at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/scnf/alerts-notices.