Efforts continue to mop up West Mullan Fire
<p>Firefighters will continue to mop up the West Mullan Fire under the direction of local authorities. </p>
MINERAL COUNTY - On Sunday night, Northern Rockies Incident Management Commander Tom Heintz turned over operations on the West Mullan Fire to a Type III management team from the Superior Ranger District.
The move comes over two weeks after the wildfire began in the northwest corner of Superior – currently there are approximately 300 firefighters working on mop up operations by searching for hotspots within 150-feet of the fireline. Fire managers are also working closely with landowners to determine needs on their property for the rehabilitation of any work done during the fire suppression efforts.
“We feel comfortable about turning it over to a local team,” Northern Rockies Incident Management PIO Pat McLevely said. “We conducted a lot of gridding (before the majority of firefighters and equipment left) and have conducted a final IR flight to look for any aggregate fire movement – there was nothing close.”
According to a press release from the incident command team, unburned “green islands” within the perimeter of the wildfire could burn and create smoke “for the next several weeks.”
“These small areas have been dried out by the passing fire and surrounding burned area, and can readily ignite by a spark or smoldering vegetation next to the unburned island,” the press release reads.
National Forest closures in remain in effect and Keystone, Pardee and Flat Creek Roads remain only open to residents as of publication. The closure of the Clark Fork River for recreational use has been lifted along with trail closures.
The West Mullan Fire reached an approximate 6,282 acres and cost an estimated $9,000,000 to fight.
“I’d say they did a pretty good job,” McLevely said of the firefighting efforts. “This is not easy country and not a good environment. To have it topped out at 6,300 acres is pretty good with the safety concerns we had – they did a damn good job.”
McLevely confirmed that the origins of the fire were human related but added that there are a “wide range of things” that could have happened.
An investigative team with the Superior Ranger District is currently working on identifying the precise cause of the blaze.