Newby Lake Fire – Incident Update

Incident Overview

Firefighters have taken advantage of cool and moist conditions over the past few days to make significant progress in building and securing fire lines. Crews in Canada crews will complete mop up and return to base camp when wind conditions permit helicopter flights. On the east flank of the fire firefighters continue to locate and mop up hot spots with the aid of palm infra-red devices In the southeast area, crews will continue securing the 4000 road. Plumbing is complete with hose lays and pumps on the south end, but many hazard snags will be removed to improve fire lines. Crews will continue to build contingency lines in the Branch Creek and Nine Mile Drainage. Winds out of the north-northwest are expected to peak today and give way to a significant warming and drying trend this weekend.

Basic Information

Current as of	7/18/2015, 8:39:41 PM
Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning/natural
Date of Origin	Thursday July 02nd, 2015 approx. 01:00 PM
Location	12 miles NW of Loomis, WA.
Incident Commander	Ed Lewis – PNW 3

Current Situation

Total Personnel	458
Size	5,065 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained	25%
Fuels Involved	Timber (Grass and Understory).
Significant Events	Fire behavior is minimal. It includes creeping, isolated torching and smoldering. Isolated torching and short range spotting was observed late afternoon.

Outlook

Planned Actions	Division A/Z: Aerial patrol. Division B: Identify heat sources and mop-up as appropriate. Division C: Utilize a combination of direct line and cold trail methods west of the 4000 road to the North Fork of Toats Coulee Creek in order to check fire spread within the existing perimeter. In addition, prepare control lines for potential burnout operations. Division K: Scout line opportunities from the Wilderness boundary at Hells Hole to the Tripod fire scar. Contingency Groups 1 & 2 are constructing contingency lines to the south and east of the fire along Nine Mile Road and Branch Creek Drainage.
Projected Incident Activity	12 Hours: Low spread potential, creeping and a few isolated torching trees. Short range spotting. 24 Hours: Elevated fire activity possible with warming and drying. Isolated torching and short range spotting. 48 & 72 Hours: Isolated torching and short range spotting Anticipated after 72 Hours: Increased fire activity with continued drying and diurnal winds. Single tree and small group torching possible with short range spotting.
Remarks	The figure of 5,065 acres accounts for acres within the United States.

Current Weather

Weather Concerns	Warming and drying trend will continue. Temperatures will be at its warmest and relatively humilities will be at its lowest in over a week. Winds will be calm.