Fire Watch

Crews make progress battling Chrandal Creek fire

Posted: Jul 30, 2012 7:17 AM by Mark Thorsell - MTN News

DARBY- Firefighters had a good weekend fighting the Chrandal Creek fire that's burning 42 miles south of Darby in the Bitterroot National Forest. Crews held the blaze in check at 2,500 acres while containment grew to 75% percent.

Crews continued to strengthen the fireline and lay hose on the northwest side of the fire Sunday in the headwaters of Chrandal Creek and on the western side of the fire. The north, east, and south sides of the fire remain largely contained.

Fire managers add that the structure protection group continued to remove equipment around residences in the Hughes Creek drainage as the fire threat has been reduced and the 37 structures in this drainage are no longer listed as threatened.

Officials say they don't expect the lightning-sparked blaze to grow much on Monday and a Type 3 Incident Management Team is slated to take over command of the fire on Tuesday morning with around 80 personnel set to continue to work on the fire.

The fire camp along Coal Creek road will be removed on Tuesday and incident operations will be based out of the West Fork Ranger District office. The Stage 1 Evacuation Notification has been lifted for residents in the upper Hughes Creek area above Chrandal Creek.

There were still 316 fire personnel, including nine 20-person crews, four helicopters and two engines assigned to the blaze as of late Sunday.