Fire crews making progress on Bench Lake Fire

STANLEY, Idaho (KIFI)—Crews made progress on the Bench Lake Fire near Redfish Lake by increasing containment to 45 percent on Wednesday. The fire size remains at 2.595 acres.

Fire managers said firefighters continue to mitigate hazard trees and increase line depth, ensuring that hotspots do not spread past containment lines. The operational focus is on the northwest corner of the fire in the Fishhook Creek area, where firefighters are working the areas of uncontained fireline to cool pockets of heat. Crews will remove hoses and pumps from the fire area that are no longer needed for suppression efforts.

They said that if weather conditions are favorable, air resources are available to support suppression activities, dropping water on hotspots so firefighters can more safely work directly on the fire’s edge.