Fire update

From all appearances, three wild fires burning near the state line are in terminal phase, and fire managers are shifting focus from suppression to rehabilitation. According to a Forest Service news release, management of the Beaver Creek, Broadway and Snake Fires are set to be downgraded from National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) to a Type III Incident Command Team Sept. 22.

None of the fires have grown appreciably since heavy precipitation dampened fuels last week, and containment levels have jumped to 72 percent for Beaver Creek, 75 percent for Snake and 10 percent for Broadway as of Tuesday.

“We don’t expect to get 100 percent containment on all three of those fires,” before a season-ending rain or snow storm puts them out, Forest Service spokesman Aaron Voos said.

He noted fire crews still assigned were largely patrolling for hotspots and that heavy equipment was leaving the area. According to a Sept. 19 Forest Service news release, a Burned Area Emergency Response Team began to assess vegetation fire damage to prepare for rehabilitation efforts.

Overall, the three blazes have burned more than 43,000 acres, or about 67 square miles of sparsely populated forest this summer. One structure was lost, and no firefighters have been seriously injured.