Fire
Sun Valley Ski Resort, Sun Valley, Ketchum, and Hailey in Idaho are all currently in the cross hairs of the very powerful Beaver Creek Fire.
The Beaver Creek fire has been burning for over 11 days now. It was started on August 7th by a lightning strike and by the morning of August 11th, Beth Lund’s Type 1 Incident Management Team assumed command of the fire.
By August 17th, 2,250 homes had been evacuated and 7,500 people were given pre-evacation warnings. Over 104,457 acres have been burned as of this morning and only 9% of the fire is currently contained.
Over 1,200 fire fighters, 19 aircraft, and 90 fire engines have been battling this blaze. The fire engines are mostly protecting homes and property in the Sun Valley area. Huge ridiculous mansions owned by people like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Hanks are currently in danger of being burned down. These neighborhoods are so valuable that private insurance companies have sent their own fire engine crews to protect homes an property.
“Multiple insurance companies with structure protection clauses providing engines to their clients in coordination with Team.” – USFS
CBS news report on Beaver Creek Fire from Monday morning
The fire has proven strong, unpredictable, and hungry. Dry ground fuels, gusty winds up to 30 mph, and low humidity have allowed this fire free reign in the Sun Valley area this week.
“Shawna Hartman (Beaver Fire Spokeswoman) said Sunday retardant was being dropped on the flank of Bald Mountain — the Sun Valley Resort’s primary ski hill — to reinforce a fire line. That meant the famed ski mountain known as “Baldy” and often used in publicity photos would have a red line of retardant visible from Ketchum.” – Washington Post
Sun Valley ski resort has turned on snow making equipment to keep grasses, bushes, and trees at the ski resort moist and somewhat fire resistant.
The terrible news is that right now (10:15am local time) the temperature is 91F, the humidity is 10%, and winds are gusting to 30 mph. This is the perfect combination to strengthen this fire enough to begin to truly threaten homes, property, and ski resorts in the Sun Valley area.
OFFICIAL USFS REPORT AS OF MONDAY MORNING:
The Beaver Creek Fire was ignited by lightning Aug. 7 and is burning northwest of Hailey in the Sawtooth National Forest.
Beth Lund’s Type 1 Incident Management Team assumed command of the fire Monday morning, August 11, 2013.
Beaver Creek Fire is burning around the footprint of the 2007 Castle Rock fire and threating the towns of Ketchum/Sun Valley and Hailey. Resources at risk include ski areas, homes, power transmision lines, Highway 75 and scenic recreational trails and camp grounds.
An extensive array of local and national resources are deployed. Air resources including DC10s, Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs) and heavy, medium and light helicopters. Equipment includes bulldozers, skidder-engines (Skidjuns), water tenders, and wildland and structure (urban) fire engines. Personnel include Hot Shot crews, 20 person hand crews, engine crews, equipment operators and fire managers.
Firefighters have been successful defending structures west of Highway 75 between the towns of Hailey and Ketchum despite dry and windy weather conditions that have generated extreme fire behavior across the fire. Active burning has been observed until 2 AM in grass and sagebrush.
Spent a few years as a child in Hailey. I love that town. I hope they can pull through this one ok!
Us, too, Smith. That is one big scary fire.
That would be terrible if the ski resort burned down. has that ever happened to a major ski hill?