BY KAREN BOSSICK

A community meeting concerning the Bible Back Fire in the White Cloud Mountains will be held tonight—Friday, Aug. 24—at the Community Center in Stanley.

The meeting will start at 6 p.m. Sawtooth Forest fire managers will discuss the fire and answer questions about the impact that smoke from fires burning throughout the West are having on air quality.

The lightning-caused Bible Back Fire is burning in remote terrain 11 miles northeast of Smiley Creek and a few miles southwest of Castle Peak.

Reported on Saturday, Aug. 18, it was named for the nearby Bible Back Mountain.

It has grown to 202 acres from 75 on Tuesday. It is 0 percent contained.

Forest officials have also expanded the area closure for the safety of the public. The area closure now includes Fourth of July Lake and Castle Peak on the north and Bowery Guard Station on the east.

The closure also includes the popular Washington Lake, Chamberlain Basin, Germania and Champion Creek recreation areas. It is in effect until Oct. 31, 2018, or until the Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor rescinds it.

For more details, visit https://fs.usda.gov/alerts/sawtooth/alerts-notices.

With all the large fires being fought across the West, there were no hot shot crews and other such resources available for such a small fire in remote terrain, Filbert said. Subalpine fir trees in the area are burning actively and the fire has been torching and spotting, throwing embers in every direction.

The rugged terrain , extremely dry fuels, active fire behavior and the potential of falling snags has  made the fire a challenge to suppress, said Area Ranger Kirk Flannigan. In addition, the fire is burning in an area on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area that is far removed from communities.

Consequently, officials pulled everybody back to safety and have adopted a modified strategy concerning how to engage the fire in a safe way, Filbert said.

Firefighters spent Thursday assessing how to protect a mining cabin on a patented mining claim in Washington Basin and surrounding it with sprinklers to increase the moisture and relative humidity there.

Firefighters are also monitoring the fire as it progresses into more rugged and remote terrain.

They are using a helicopter for reconnaissance and shuttling crews from one site to another. They may use it on occasion to drop water. But there are no restrictions on motorized boat traffic on Redfish Lake as there was when initial attack crews and numerous helicopters and scooper planes were fighting the fire the first couple days.

While there was no frost Thursday morning, the temperature dropped to 32 degrees  in the area, Filbert said.

Cooler mornings and shorter days should help mitigate fire activity, although today is expected to be a little windier and a little drier with ridgetop humidity 15 to 20 percent. The area is right on the edge of a red flag warning, which is expected to send 30- to 35-mile per hour winds into Twin Falls, perhaps as far north as Shoshone, from noon to 9 p.m. today—Friday, Aug. 24.

Ada, Boise, Canyon, Elmore, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington counties are under an Orange or Unhealthy Air Quality Advisory, with residents being asked to carpool, telecommute or use mass transit.

The smoky haze that has shrouded the valley has been coming from fires burning in British Columbia and the Northern Cascades in Washington.

A report issued last week said that the fire season in the West has grown by 102 days since the 1970s, thanks to hotter temperatures and less precipitation.

Meanwhile, the Stewart Creek fire burning in the Lime Creek drainage 16 miles northwest of Fairfield has grown to 150 acres and is 5 percent contained.

Firefighters were pulled from the fire Tuesday afternoon due to very active fire behavior. But they were able to return to work Wednesday constructing fire line to prevent the fire from progressing to the south. They have been supported with helicopters and scooper planes dropping water on hot spots.

Air tankers are dropping retardant on the south and west perimeters.

The fire, caused by lightning was detected on Monday, Aug. 20.