Newby Lake Fire – Incident Overview

Incident Overview

The Type 1 Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team #3 is transitioning the management of the fire to a Type 3 Incident Management Team. The Type 3 team will assume management of the fire tomorrow at 6:00 am. Ed Lewis, Incident Commander of the Pacific Northwest Team #3 would like to thank the community for its support and all who helped in the fire suppression effort.

Firefighters will continue to scout out the location and construct direct fire line west of the Middle Fork of Toats Coulee Creek to the Tripod Fire scar. Mop up of hot spots at the southeastern and southern sections of the fire will continue. Air patrol of the northern and northeast sectors of the fire will be on-going. Construction of the contingency line in Nine Mile Creek and Branch Creek will also continue.

Basic Information

Current as of	7/20/2015, 6:32:51 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	329
Size	5,065 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained	30%
Fuels Involved	Timber (Grass and Understory).
Significant Events	The fire is exhibiting a combination of smoldering, creeping and isolated torching. Fire behavior potential rises significantly this afternoon and evening with forecasted high winds and low relative humidity. Isolated torching and short range spotting with potential for 1 to 2 mile runs if fire gets established outside fire lines. Air operations may be hampered by high gusty winds.

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 North Fork of Toats Coulee Creek in order to check fire spread within the existing perimeter. Continue to mop up from the 4000 road to Toats Coulee. Identify alternate and contingency options. Division K: In monitor status. 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: Isolated torching trees and short range spotting. If a spot or slop over gets established, single/group torching, and long range spotting could occur. 24 Hours: Creeping, smoldering with isolated torching. 48 & 72 Hours: Creeping, smoldering with isolated torching. Anticipated after 72 Hours: Creeping and smoldering.
Remarks	The figure of 5,065 acres accounts for acres within the United States.

Current Weather

Weather Concerns	A dry air mass moving into area this afternoon will cause relative humidity to lower towards 20%. Winds from a dry cold front will also hit the fire area this afternoon and cause near critical fire conditions.