The Roosevelt Fire (Wyoming)

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Jeez, best of luck, Kev! I know a little about how you must be feeling. We just bought a house in the forest over in Hope, Idaho. Now there's a lightning-started fire 5 miles away - about 8,000 acres. Coincidentally, they're calling it the Cougar Fire.

Of course, the first thing we did was get insurance, but from the inciweb reports, and the recent rain, it looks like we're going to be OK. Such a great place overlooking Lake Pend Oreille....

Wow love the view and the table. very nice.
Pend Oreille is rumored to have big trout
Yes we are heavily insured, so the house is replaceable and honestly my wife and I were discussing this morning , the loss of all our timber would be the real tragedy as it would not be replaceable in our lifetime

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Wow love the view and the table. very nice.
Pend Oreille is rumored to have big trout

Thanks, Kev. Yeah, it's no rumor about the big trout!

[KevWind]

Here is a picture from the Bridger Teton Facebook page today

This is along the highway they are cutting down the trees and clearing slash

[auggie242]

Prayers going out for you Kev, and you too DC. My daughter lived just south of Libby, Montana where they know wildfires all too well.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by auggie242

Prayers going out for you Kev, and you too DC. My daughter lived just south of Libby, Montana where they know wildfires all too well.

Thanks, so it appears relatively quiet from this mornings webcam shot,
will have to see if the winds kick up in the afternoon.






According to some regional news sources the Roosevelt fire is now the No. 1 priority in the country . (currently estimated at 48 + thousand acres ) Speculating here but hopefully the highway is the line in the sand. They appear to understand if it jumps the highway and gets into the timber on the east side there is so much standing dead (beetle kill) and deadfall all upslope and down wind , that it could possibly rip completely up and over the continental divide and go clear to the Wind River area on the east slope , it could have the potential to destroy hundreds of thousands even into the million + of acres of some of the most prime wildlife habitat left in the country.

[KevWind]

This looks encouraging

A pre fire retardant drop in the Timber on the east side of highway (mentioned in above post ) about 12:00 today

[KevWind]

This is really encouraging

The Forest Service just posted this video of a retardant drop
again on the east side of highway 189/191 I did this screen recording of that video.

It is about 17 seconds shows apparently a guide plane first and then a jet dropping retardant.

As the jet turns it's right wing is above our house at about a 45 degree angle down to the tallest dark green timber on ridge our house is at the far right just in those trees on top of the ridge

[KevWind]

Wed . Morning update.: Unfortunately there are now at least 22 homes lost in the Hoback Ranches subdivision which consists of 153 resident structures. Damage assessment crews have only been able to get back into and assess about 25% to 30 % of the subdivision because of still dangerous conditions and or roads blocked from downed trees

In the effort to prevent the fire from crossing the highway , after clearing ground cover right next to the highway ,"Burn Out" operations began about 12:00 yesterday and continued throughout last night taking advantage of the calm wind situation . Winds are predicted to picup this afternoon



Night time burn out

[KevWind]

The story continues and is a good news bad news situation
The good news is that so far the crews have 35% containment and those fire lines are holding... There are 1074 personal at the fire
The bad news is that 46 structures have now been confirmed lost. Very sad for those affected

The I guess prototypical news is the carrion feeders have arrived--- also sad

The Sublette County Sheriff's office has been informed of several Scams involving collecting donation funds
They put out this notice

"The Sublette County Sheriff's Office has been informed scams are already in place trying to collect funds for the fire relief from the Roosevelt Fire. The only official donations are at [email protected] and the official GoFund me account established https://www.gofundme.com/roosevelt-f...ecovery…

Please be careful and direct your intended donations to these two avenues. No one officially ties with these organizations above will reach out to you and ask you to donate."

[unimogbert]

..........

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by unimogbert

Fingers crossed for you Kev.

I remember that building next to the turn in the highway from my two motorcycle trips to Montana.

Thanks , relatively quiet this morning so far

Yes the Rim station has been there since 40's or 50 s I believe

[KevWind]

As of this morning things are looking a bit better for us Power is back on and the fire line along the highway is holding. And there is possible rain predicted for early next week monday or tuesday.

Currently from inciweb

Incident Overview
Date of Detection: September 15, 2018 Current Size: 57,969 acres Location: Bondurant, WY

Cause: Human, Containment: 40% ,Structures Lost: 55 confirmed, more may be determined, Injuries: 3

Resources on Fire: There are currently 1,160 personnel on this incident

The Roosevelt Fire is a human caused fire ignited by an abandoned warming fire left unattended at mid-slope.

Stage 1 Fire Restrictions Remain in effect – campfires and warming fires are allowed only in designated places. Please ensure campfires and warming fires are fully extinguished.

Highway 191 is fully open through the fire area. Further closures are not expected, but may be necessary depending on fire activity.

Power has been restored to Kendall Valley/Upper Green.


No additional homes have been counted as destroyed. A total of 55 homes have been lost.

[KevWind]

With the rain last night and continuing off and on for the next three to four days and possibly some snow mixed in.
Looks like the end is in sight.
It is 85% contained and expected to be 100 % buy Oct 10 or sooner

We were extremely lucky but sadly some 55 homes were lost.

Very frustrating to think that probably some thoughtless hunter left a warming fire unattended, and needlessly caused the loss of so many homes and people's personal possessions.
Not to mention the two hunters ( the ones who actually reported the fire ) then the next day while evacuating on foot were overtaken by the fire and burned fairly badly (2nd and 3rd degree) but survived by getting in the river (more like a creed at that location ) when they realized they could not outrun it. One of whom is an Acoustic guitar player.

Story here
https://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...957aa4ea3.html

[Acousticado]

Thanks for the update, Kevin. Sad that so many have lost so much, but great that you and your family have come through it unscathed. You must feel relieved. Our SW Florida vacation home was 5 miles from the eye of Hurricane Irma, so even from afar, we know the angst of potentially losing it all.

[auggie242]

Glad this ordeal is likely over for you! That feeling of having no control over what happens is totally scary.