Fire Update: August 29, 2018
General Information: On Thursday, August 30th at 7:00 a.m., Southwest Area Incident Management Team 4 will transition management of the Goldstone and Beaver Creek Fires to a local Type 3 organization. The number of personnel assigned to the fire will continue to decrease due to successful firefighting efforts. Approximately 144 personnel and equipment will remain assigned to the incident. There have been no accidents or injuries reported to date on either fire.
Goldstone Fire Operations: The Goldstone Fire has burned 1,510 acres on the Salmon-Challis National Forest and 7,827 acres on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Crews continue to implement the Suppression Repair Plan, chipping along FS Roads 181 and 185 and moving logs that were cut during suppression activities. There will be heavy equipment and logging trucks in the area for several more days and the public should use caution traveling in these areas.
Fire Weather: Today will continue the warming and drying trend for the week. Patchy fog will quickly yield to sunny skies. This will allow temperatures to climb back into the upper 60’s and relative humidities to fall back into the low 20% range. Westerly winds will be on the increase, both in the lower elevations and up on the ridges. Gusts to near 30 mph should be expected along the exposed ridges in the afternoon. Wednesday night, clear skies will lead to another chilly night with lows in the mid 30’s in the valleys. The ridges of the fires will maintain stronger winds through the overnight, keeping temperatures higher and humidities drier. Thursday will see another cold front slide through with higher winds and a chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms.
Closures: All road and trail closures on the Salmon-Challis side of the Goldstone Fire have been terminated. This includes Forest Road #186, Kenny Creek Road, Forest Road #185, Warm Springs Road; Forest Road #184, Kenny Wood Road; and Forest Road #60733 from the gate in Ghoul Basin to the end of the road are now open. The Goldstone Fire closure has been reduced. The new closure area is contained in the north by Forest Service Road (FSR) 7330, on the east by FSR 181 (Bloody Dick Road), on the south by Terrell Creek, and on the west by the Continental Divide Trail. Reservoir Lake, Horse Prairie, and Bloody Dick Cabin are open and accessible. In support of the closure, the Continental Divide Trail has been rerouted around the fires. The trail reroute maps and closure orders can be found on the InciWeb pages shown below.
Restrictions: Stage 1 Fire Restrictions will be rescinded today on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and on Friday on the Salmon-Challis National Forest. For information, please visit the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest website at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/bdnf and Salmon-Challis National Forest website at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/scnf.
This will be the final update for the Goldstone and Beaver Creek Fire. The Incident Command Post located Jackson, Montana, is now closed. InciWeb will remain the official source for fire information. For updates on wildfires and other activities across the Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Salmon-Challis National Forests, please follow their Facebook pages. For more information, please contact the Wisdom Ranger District at (406)689-3243, the Dillon Ranger District at (406)683-3900, or the Salmon-Cobalt Ranger District at (208)756-5200.
