Update: Lone Pine Fire 100% contained

Update 08/10/2016 11:00 pm: The Lone Pine Fire burning near Fort Hall is now 100 percent contained. Crews remain on location to put out any hot spots.

UPDATE 08/09/16 2:00 p.m.: Fire officials said the Lone Pine Fire is now 65 percent contained as of Tuesday afternoon. Though the fire is still burning, no further acres have burned. The number of acres still sits at 9,200.

Dan Zajanc, the incident commander, said most of the fire looks good and crews have made progress. He said crews are working on mopping up most of the fire. But he said the east side of the fire is still a concern. There are still some spots burning. Monday night workers built more containment lines on the east side and that has been their biggest focus since Monday.

“It’s where the bulk of the containment line work was done yesterday in anticipation of strong west, southwest winds today,” Zajanc said.

Zajanc said if winds pick up again Tuesday like they did Sunday, crews could have a tough time holding the containment lines. If lines don’t hold, the fire could catch and spread rapidly again. With the fuels so dry, it would only add to the difficulty in crews getting it under control if it does re-flare.

Crews do expect to have 100 percent containment by around 9:00 p.m. Tuesday night.

UPDATE 8/08/16 12:00 pm.: Fire managers said the Lone Pine Fire is 40 percent contained and estimated to have burned 9,200 acres. Lower than previously reported.

Though the fire is still far from out, crews have been able to make some progress toward containment. It’s gone from zero percent contained on Sunday to 40 percent Monday morning. Fort Hall fire chief Brian Briggs said crews worked into the night to try and gain some ground on the fire. He said the weather improved a little overnight too, which helped.

“The winds died down over the evening so it was able to help us out a little bit to kinda keep control of the line during the night,” Briggs said.

“We had crews working well into the night last night doing some fire operations and building fire lines,” said Dan Zajanc, incident commander for the Lone Pine Fire. “Those were all successful last night.”

But crews still have a long way to go and they worry the weather could work against them again.

“It’s just a question today of holding those containment lines,” Zajanc said. “When the temperature comes up and the RH comes down and the winds come up in the afternoon is when we will typically have our troubles holding our containment lines. So we’ll do our best to keep the lines held.”

Briggs said their focus right now is to just keep the fire from spreading any further.

“We don’t want to go more than the 9,200 acres that have already burned,” he said. “We want to maintain that, and we want to make sure we stay out of some cultural sensitive areas that are out here for the tribes.”

Several agencies are working on the fire. Those include Shoban Fire Department, BIA Range Management, Snake River Hot Shots, BLM, USDA Forest Service, and Idaho Fish and Game. They also have 2 helicopters and an 11-person smoke jumper crew.

Logan Linnan, the public information officer for the fire, said crews also want to stress public safety.

He said road access is restricted. Ross Fork and the narrows are restricted to essential personnel only. He wants to encourage people to stay out of the fire areas and off all roads near the fire, unless absolutely necessary.

Some homes in the Ross Fork area are considered threatened, but not in immediate danger at this time.

Still no estimate on when the fire will be controlled, they said.

Wildfire Statistics

UPDATE 8/07/16 – 8:20 p.m.: The Eastern Idaho Wildfire Interagency is calling it the Lone Pine Fire. It’s currently burning through sagebrush, grass and juniper. Because of strong winds and thunderstorm activity, the fire tripled in size on Sunday.

The estimated acreage burned is now 9,600. It is still zero percent contained and crews still have no estimate or time frame for containment or control.

Resources assigned to the fire are 12 engines, two Type 2 handcrews, five dozers, two helicopters, and approximately 150 personnel. More resources to help fight the fire are on order.

Original Story: A fire that started late Saturday afternoon around 4:30-4:45 p.m. in Fort Hall is still burning and growing on Sunday.

Fort Hall Fire Chief Brian Briggs said the fire was caused by lightning. As of Sunday afternoon, he said the fire had burned more than 2,000 acres. He said high winds are making it extremely difficult for crews to fight it. He said it’s currently zero percent contained.

Crews from Fort Hall, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are all on scene.

Two helicopters and at least one spotter plane are working to help with containment. Planes were doing bucket dumps and spreading retardant. Two water tankers were also brought in to help. One is from Blackfoot and the other from Chubbuck.

Briggs said at this time, there are no structures or homes threatened.

Briggs said they have called for additional resources to fight the fire, but none are available right now because they are busy fighting fires in other areas.

No time frame yet on when crews expect the fire to be contained.