From Inciniweb...
Size: 3,248 acres
Containment: 12%
Total Personnel: 459
Engines: 15
Heavy Equipment: 10
Crews: 10
A Red Flag Fire Weather Warning has been issued for the Idaho panhandle, including the Ridge Creek Fire area (www.weather.gov/wrh/fire wfo=otx&LAT=48.0512&LON=-116.4660). A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions will occur that will be characterized by high temperatures, low relative humidity, and wind.
The Fire Weather Forecast for the Ridge Creek Fire includes temperatures that will reach the low 90s, relative humidity in the mid-teens, and winds out of the southwest with gusts that will exceed 20 mph this afternoon. These are conditions that will produce active fire behavior and smoke.
Fire perimeters have remained stable over the last three days demonstrating the substantial work that crews have completed to strengthen containment lines. With the Red Flag Warning issued for the Ridge Creek Fire area, crews anticipate that there will be active fire behavior today accompanied by visible smoke. With a prevailing wind out of the southwest, operational staff anticipate the use of aircraft again, particularly in the northeast area of the fire. Crews will look to continue firing operations, as conditions allow, to remove shrub and surface layer fuels. Firing operations were limited during the day yesterday due to weather conditions but were resumed last night as conditions moderated overnight. A night shift of engines will continue to be used to patrol the perimeter of the fire to monitor fire behavior.
Light rain is forecasted for Sunday to Wednesday, but these storms often fizzle.
Please pray for the brave men and women on the ground working under very difficult conditions with little sleep, the pilots who run the helicopters and tankers bombing the fire every day, and all the support people who keep an operation this size going day after day.
The aircraft were hitting the fire hard with water and retardant starting the first day, August 3.
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The clerical trailer, or “Kinkos on wheels,” holds at least eight printers of various sizes that produce anything from road signs to the “Big Ass Map” used every morning for the 6 a.m. briefing.
“Finance tracks every dadgum dime, and we’re really accountable for that,” McCreedy said. That includes anything from the cost of spreading bark to keep dust down around the mess hall, to the cost of catering on-site meals.
McCreedy said the logistics department is responsible for getting everything needed from the ground up, including a portable cell phone tower, portable toilets, local excavation equipment, ingredients for meals, shipping, receiving and delivering.
“Feeding a few hundred people a day requires some coordination,” Forest Service public information officer Kelly Miller said.
Portable toilets, or the gray rooms, are cleaned every day. Hand washing is aggressively encouraged at hand washing stations throughout the camp. Hand sanitizers, and foot-pump-operated washing stations are also located near the firefighters' tents and all gray rooms, plus the showers.
The goal is to keep viruses, colds, dirt or grime — camp crud — to a minimum. Cleaning crews are also on staff for daily cleaning and maintenance, so fire crews can focus on fires.
The camp is framed by multiple 50-foot box trucks, refrigerated and standard, with tons of supplies. The refrigerated trucks hold water, Gatorade, snacks and ice, and firefighters fill coolers in the morning from the refrigerated truck to combat the heat on the hill throughout the day.
The other trailers hold bootlaces, shovels, equipment or tools firefighters could need.
Equipment manager trainee Aaron Malson, from Susanville, Calif., will also deliver supplies, like spare tires, hose, pumps or extra shovels, to the front lines as necessary.
“And as soon as humanly possible,” Malson said. “The kind of turnaround is the second I receive the order, I immediately start the dispatch process. And there’s a good chance that within the hour that item is being dispatched.”
Malson also distributes vehicles and ensures that trucks can do what the crews need them to.
“I handle all the rentals that come in,” Malson said. “It’s a crucial part of firefighting. We have to make sure that the vehicles that we’re sending out to the line that people need will not have any breakdowns.”
Command crews and firefighters fly in from across the country bringing tents, their equipment, clothes and toiletries to fight the blaze in Ridge Creek for 14 and up to 21 days.
Everyone sleeps in a small tent for a few hours before going back out to the front lines. Night crews have a quiet location with blackout shades to help them sleep.
Every effort is made to make the space comfortable, McCreedy said, but it’s intense.
The structure of the incident command system follows a national template, so anyone who is called in to work on a fire will integrate seamlessly to the team.
“We have a very deliberate chain of command that no matter where you are in the organization, you know who you answer to,” McCreedy said. “And that’s a critical safety factor in terms of communication.”
The incident crews then work with local agencies to coordinate a structured response.
"The folks that we've dealt with, like Northern Lakes Fire District in particular, I mean they've just been spot on in terms of helping us," McCreedy said.
The Ridge Creek Fire is at 15% containment with over 3,100 acres burned.
