Davis fire grows 14x larger since Friday
A Chinook helicopter prepares to drop water on the Davis fire in a photo provided Saturday. (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service/Kootenai National Forest)
The Davis fire grew by almost four times Friday to Saturday and then by almost three times Saturday to Sunday, before growing more slowly into Monday, when fire officials estimated its size at 5,479 acres and containment at 5 percent.
Friday morning, the fire was 388 acres and 25 percent contained.
The growth began Friday when the fire spotted and then burned northeast into Canada. On Saturday, 20-mph wind gusts pushed it farther northeast.
The growth coincided with a Red Flag Warning for Friday and Saturday, indicating that conditions were ideal for the fire to expand.
Despite the Red Flag Warning being lifted Sunday, firefighters still anticipated growth due to winds causing fires to spot up to half a mile ahead. However, by Monday morning the fire had grown only 200 acres since Sunday.
The growth caused fire officials to regroup.
“New strategies are being developed for how to best address the fire given limited resources and accelerated fire behavior,” states an incident report.
At the fire’s southern perimeter, crews have been holding the fire line and looking “to tie [it] to natural barriers on the southwest corner of the fire,” states an incident report.
Monday morning, crews were to be tying in the fire line to “a natural rock scree” in that direction, and improving a parallel contingency line down to Davis Creek.
“Sprinklers are still operational on the southeastern line and crews continue to mop up, extinguishing embers within 100 feet of the line,” states Monday morning’s incident report.
To the northeast on Monday, some crews were gauging road access into new fire areas, while another worked to protect the Garver Mountain Lookout in case the fire expanded to the east.
Forest Service Road 338 beyond Beetle Creek Road is closed, as are a number of trails. A full closure list can be viewed at www.fs.usda.gov/kootenai/.
Monday’s lighter winds, cooler temperatures and higher humidity were expected to hold fire growth to the “low to moderate” range.
Canadian firefighters are managing the fire in their country and were tied into the fire’s Incident Command Post at the Yaak Fire Station, where a public meeting was held 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Porcupine fire, managed by the same team, was 100 percent contained and in patrol status Monday morning.