Swawilla fire nears containment

Firefighters plumed the area in smoke for a few days over the last week, but their prescribes burns paid off.

The Swawilla I Fire encompasses 53, 462 acres and is 94% contained as of about noon Tuesday. The Bridge Creek Fire is 100% contained at 3,998 acres. Its 50 firefighters were to be transferred to the Swawilla I Fire.

There are still 556 personnel on that fire, and a change of incident management teams has transitioned to the next phase of fire management. The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 6 handed the fires off to the Southern Area Blue Incident Management Team.

Firefighters from 18 states, the furthest from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, have been involved in fighting the fire that started from lightning July 17.

All remaining evacuation levels were lowered to Level 2, and the roads in those areas open, including highway 21, Peter Dan, Manilla Creek, and Cache Creek. The Keller Ferry is fully operational, and the Keller Post Office is back in business, having had all its mail going to Wilbur during the Level 3 evacuation.

Firefighters expect that unburned material in the interior of the fire will still ignite, causing more smoke at times. They urge caution on the roads for firefighting traffic and poor visibility with smoke.

“A substantial amount of heat remains in and around the Meadow Creek and Jack Creek drainages following the burnout from several days ago,” stated an update Aug. 6. “Crews are working to extinguish those hot spots. Firefighters will continue to identify and suppress smoking areas and residual pockets of heat on the northern portion of the fire, focusing on mopping up 100’ inside of containment lines. A structure protection group is patrolling the fire line near Keller. Crews will begin removing fire hose from the southeast portion of the fire so it can be refurbished and utilized on other fires in the region. Firefighters are available to assist local resources with initial attack if needed.”