A PIO will present a citizen briefing at W. Jefferson Middle School at approximately 9:00 AM.
Overnight the fire was relatively stable. Fire crews made progress through the night in protecting structures. Today’s strategy is to gain containment around the fire while continuing to protect structures.
Today’s fire behavior is expected to be similar to yesterday but with slightly higher winds. The winds could result in more robust fire activity. The fire will also most likely become more intense as the temperature rises throughout the day. The fire has continued to exhibit a tendency to start spot fires in a wide area.
Our Incident Management Team Liaison Officer will be working with representatives from Century Link and Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) to evaluate current damages and to begin formulating a plan to restore services to affected areas.
The fire will be actively engaged from the air today. The air support resources available today include two Heavy P2V Tankers and one SEAT plane dropping fire retardant and four helicopters conducting water drops. These aircraft will be supported by additional command and observation planes. Additional resources are being ordered.
The weather forecast for today show winds becoming increasingly southwest with speeds in the 8-14 MPH range with gusts up to 20 MPH specifically around the higher ridges. Humidity is expected to drop relatively low by mid afternoon to around 10% or less.
The new command post location, at Conifer High School, is up and running. The Red Cross continues to host the evacuation shelter located at West Jefferson Middle School. A PIO will present a citizen briefing at W. Jefferson Middle School at approximately 9:00 AM.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will continue to man road blocks around the fire perimeter. At this time we are not allowing anyone back into the evacuated regions. We ask that you continue to avoid to area around the fire in order to allow for quick and safe traffic for emergency vehicles.
