Significant progress on Montana Creek and Malaspina Fires

The Incident Management Team for the Montana Creek and Malaspina Fires report that they made significant progress on both fires on Wednesday.  The Montana Creek fire is 40% contained, and the Malaspina is 35% contained. They consider a section of line contained once they have eliminated hotspots and ignitable fuels within the line and are confident that any unburned areas within the perimeter would not cross the line.

Two hundred nineteen personnel are working on the two fires. New crews arrived last night and are continuing the mop-up effort.

Jeff Demke, Operations Chief for the Incident Management Team, said that the weather conditions have improved but that there’s “still a high potential” for new starts because “the fields are still extremely dry.“ Firefighters are also watching for increased winds because tree root systems were weakened by the fire in the dry duff layer and trees could fall if the wind picks up.

On Wednesday evening, the evacuation levels in the areas of the Montana Creek and Malaspina Fires were changed.  All zones are now set at a Level 1 – Ready with the exception of one house in the Malaspina fire which is continuing to stay at a Level 3 – Go.

A map of the zones is available on the InciWeb site.