Ridge Creek Fire still 0% contained
The Ridge Creek Fire on the northern tip of Hayden Lake remains 0% contained and has grown to an estimated size of between 1,200 and 1,500 acres.
"You can well imagine, access into this fire is one of the issues that we're having," Eastern Area Incident Management Team information officer Clark McCreedy told The Press. "We’re in the business right now of improving access so we can get heavy equipment up to the fire."
Approximately 115 people are assigned to the fire, which is burning along Hayden Creek Road and in the Ridge Creek drainage. Crews are working directly on the fire and building fire lines, McCreedy said, particularly on the southern side of the fire where crews have an anchor point. He said they are in the process of ordering additional crews, engines and heavy equipment. Progress has been made on the southern end. He said one of the main focuses now is strategically looking at the landscape to most effectively build lines and improve access.
Today's cooler weather has been helpful to fire crews' efforts. McCreedy said prevailing winds have been out of the southwest, pushing the fire to the northeast, for the most part away from homes.
"We have some gusty winds and thunderstorms and that can cause difficulty, but with cloud cover and a little moisture, generally our hand crews can make progress," McCreedy said. "We don't have sunlight on the fire right now, we have good cloud cover. This gives our hand crews the opportunity to really be effective."
Residents in the Ridge Creek Fire area remain in the Level 1 "Get Ready" notification zone, which instructs them to create and maintain defensible space and harden their homes against flying embers. The next level, "Get Set," is one step away from the "Go" evacuation notice.
The Ridge Creek Fire began Thursday and was caused by humans, U.S. Forest Service officials have reported.
McCreedy said people recreationally using Hayden Lake should be keenly aware that firefighting aircraft will continue drawing water from the center of the lake.
"Given how rough and difficult the terrain is, we will continue to have a dependency on the use of aircraft and their source is Hayden Lake," he said. "The flight path is going to be right down the center of the lake, and they don’t have any way to deviate."
Boaters should exercise caution and stay away from the middle of Hayden Lake, he said.
"We want folks to be safe, we want folks flying our aircraft to be safe,” McCreedy said.
