Fire containment is 80%, estimated 3,000 acres. Crews continue to patrol and mop up perimeter. Overall fire is looking good at this time but interior pockets are still holding heat and showing some smoke. Planned actions for this evening and into tomorrow are to patrol containment line, mop up hot spots along the perimeter, and improve line where needed.

Fire containment is 70%, estimated 1,500 acres. Crews continue to mop up, patrol, and improve containment lines. Priorities for today include completing containment line around the perimeter of the fire and getting accurate mapping of acreage.  

Fire containment is 70%, estimated 1,500 acres. The fire on the West side that spotted over FM 2035 has been contained. Crews will conduct burn out operations along containment lines to improve line and reduce fuels. Fire activity has died down due to decreasing temperatures and increasing humidity. Planned actions for tomorrow will be to construct, improve, patrol, and mop up along containment lines.

Fire containment is 50%, estimated 1,500 acres. Fire behavior continues to be very active. Crews working to construct containment line with dozers and maintainers on the East side of the fire are nearing completion. All fire that jumped the West side containment line now has new line around it. Crews will work to improve and strengthen containment lines along the West side. Air resources are assisting ground crews and making beneficial retardant drops. VFDs continue to patrol and mop up hot spots.

Fire containment is 30%, estimated 1,500 acres. Dozers are making good progress on containment line but is slow in some places due to terrain. SEATs are making effective retardant drops and are working closely with the dozer crews. VFDs continue to patrol and mop up hot spots close to the containment line.

Fire containment is 30%, estimated 1,500 acres. Crews continue to make progress on containment lines but it is slow due to thick vegetation. Crews are also currently working on widening a ranch road close to the perimeter while air resources provide support ahead of them. Mulberry Canyon, Sweetwater, Lake Sweetwater, and Nolan FDs are on scene, as well as Nolan County equipment to help assist with containment.

Fire containment is 100%, 316 acres. Fire has been turned back over to the local VFDs. Acreage decrease is due to more accurate mapping.

Fire containment is 30%, estimated 500 acres. Fire behavior is very active with short runs and torching. Merkel, Tye, View, and Abilene fire departments are on scene; Taylor County Precinct 2 has 2 county maintainers, and a landowner is using a private dozer to assist with containment.

RESTORATION PROJECT AIDS FIRE SUPPRESSION EFFORT

On July 13, 2020, the Big Summit Fire started in Nevada and quickly burned across the state line into Utah, reaching the western edge of the Hamlin Valley.  While firefighters anchored line near the point of origin and began to flank the fire with hand line and dozer line, winds out of the southwest drove the flames toward the northeast.  

In 2018, the Color Country District of the Bureau of Land Management removed the pinyon and juniper trees from an area once dominated by perennial grass, forbs and shrubs. The area lies within the Hamlin Valley Sage Grouse Priority Habitat Management Area.  The State Line Project was a collaborative effort through the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative, which had multiple interested parties, including local landowners. A total of 843 acres had mulching treatments, and were seeded with a grass and forb mix to achieve a vegetation community more closely resembling the sagebrush ecological site. This also resulted in patchy fuel breaks adjacent to private land in the Hamlin Valley.  When the flaming front from the Big Summit Fire reached this treated area, it was suddenly starved of continuous fuel provided by a tree canopy. According to fire behavior analyst Gayle Sorenson, flame lengths from burning juniper trees usually reach heights of 20-30 feet or more. Firefighters are often unable to get close enough to be effective, even with fire engines. Water and fire retardant dropped from helicopters and air tankers is less effective when it cannot penetrate the canopy, and the intense heat evaporates much of the water or retardant before it reaches the fuels. The grass and forb vegetation left after treatment produce much less intensity and flame lengths are more likely to be just 3-6 feet. These fuel breaks created by the State Line habitat restoration project allowed firefighters the opportunity to directly attack the fire with hand tools and fire engines on this section of the fire. They were able to quickly build line and corral a prong of the fire in a relatively short time, assisted by helicopters dropping water and air tankers spreading retardant across the grassy fuels. This kept the fire from advancing on to private land to the east of Section 20, in the Hamlin Valley, just north of State Line Road.

The fire’s progression northward was also hampered when it reached the rehabilitated burn area of the 2002 Eagle Fire.  Progression eastward was slowed when it reached the 2007 Paradise Fire rehabilitation. The fire was completely lined on July 18, 2020.  Nearly 13 miles of line was built in five days, due to the hard work of numerous firefighting crews and dozer operators. Firefighting efforts were benefited because the Big Summit Fire burned to the edges of previous natural disturbance and the restoration project area.

 FINAL DAILY UPDATE IS ATTACHED BELOW