West Mullan Fire reaches 700-acres
<p>Forest Service helicopter crews have been battling the West Mullan fire since Sunday afternoon. The fire has reached 700-acres and a helicopter crew was also working on several spot fires that broke out in the area. </p>
Residents of Superior gathered outside of the Mineral County Courthouse Monday night, where county and Forest Service officials briefed them on the current status of the West Mullan Fire.
The fire began Sunday evening at approximately 5:00pm and had reached 20-25 acres by the time Forest Service Firefighters arrived on scene. A combination of dry weather and winds pushed the fire up the ridge above where West Mullan Road turns from pavement to dirt and it continued to grow in size.
“Within an hour it had more than tripled in size,” Initial Incident Commander Shawn Borgen said. “Essentially by 6:30 pm we were pushing 300-acres.”
Forest Service Firefighters were working through the night and Borgen said since they hadn’t scouted the northern area of the fire the crews focused primarily on trying to save homes and structures off of Mullan Road.
Last night the Forest Service also made the decision to change the status of the fire to a Type II Incident and requested the support of Tim Heintz and the Northern Rockies Incident Team.
The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office also issued warnings to residents and suggested voluntary evacuations. Sheriff Ernie Ornelas said some did voluntarily leave last night and due to changes with the fire Monday morning mandatory evacuations were called for.
“After discussion at the emergency operation center we did have mandatory evacuations up Pardee and East Pardee,” Sheriff Ornelas said. “We also included Flat Creek, which is outside the city limits.”
The discussion centered around the fires growth, with Monday seeing the size of the blaze doubling again to over 600-acres.
Superior Ranger District Fire Management Officer Jim Ward added the mandatory evacuations are “100 percent for your safety” and were due to weather conditions such as 15 mph winds and nine percent relative humidity causing the fire to “aggressively” expand Monday.
“It’s pretty extreme for this time of year,” Ward said. “We are seeing fire behavior we normally wouldn’t see in July and the weather service is talking about an anomaly that is supposed to be occurring late Tuesday night and Wednesday.”
The anomaly involves a low-pressure system setting up in the Arizona/Texas area and another low-pressure system setting up off the coast of Washington. This system could cause severe thunderstorms and monsoon like conditions.
“It’s only a 50 percent chance,” Ward said. “So if we are the 50 percent that doesn’t get it we are going to get erratic winds and unpredictable fire spreads. We aren’t trying to be too alarmist with these evacuations. We are really trying to do it so you guys are aware and we can get you out in a timely manner and still be effective with the fire.”
Sherriff Ornelas added that evacuees are being asked to initially report to Superior High School, where the American Red Cross is present and has set-up an evacuation center.
“We would like folks to report there first so we know who has been evacuated,” Sheriff Ornelas said. “If you plan on going someplace else we will be able to at least have contact information on who has come out and how we can reach them. Even if you are not planning on staying in the area we would still like you to check in.”
Superior Volunteer Fire Chief John Woodland addressed residents at the meeting and informed them that the volunteers working the wildfire had been called back to get rest and be prepared in case another fire incident occurs in town.
“We still have a community and there is still the potential for somebody to overcook their roast tomorrow afternoon and we need to be in a position where we can respond to that,” Chief Woodland said. “They will be ready and available to do the best job possible to protect you structures.”
According to Superior Ranger Tawny Brummett there are currently five Type 2 Initial Attack Crews, two Hotshot Crews currently on scene (two more en-route), five helicopters (one heavy, two medium and two light), two dozers, one road grater and six engines fighting the fire.
Ranger Brummett then introduced Tom Heintz, who took over as incident commander at 11:00 pm on Monday.
“We are a Northern Rockies team and the great majority of us are from Montana and Idaho so we are familiar with this country,” Heintz said. “Whenever we come into these situations it’s a team effort so we fully intend to work with all the local entities here.”
Heintz added the team is setting up camp in St. Regis and it would be fully functional by Tuesday morning. Resources will be staged at the camp and all briefings will take place there as well.
Up to date information on the West Mullan Fire will be available at www.vp-mi.com.