08/26/08

Tuesday, fire crews look to get ahead of the east slide rock ridge fire in Elko County. It was assessment day for crews handling the east slide rock ridge fire in Elko County.

During Monday night's wind storm, the fire grew 28,000 acres and sits today at over 38,000 acres.

Incident Commander Paul Summerfelt said, “As of this morning, we're in need of doing a lot of assessment to determine just exactly where the fire is now, and to find our best approach to continue with suppression operations would be.”

Firefighters were pulled from the west and north sides of the fire late Monday as southwesterly winds blew the fire within three and a half miles of Jarbidge, Nevada and five miles from Murphy Hot Springs in Owyhee County.

No one was evacuated, but roads into the area were closed for several hours in the morning.

Summerfelt says, “We're hopeful and optimistic that the fire won't get there. That's one of the areas that is key to us right now.”

Fire crews from multiple agencies in Idaho, Nevada and Utah are observing the blaze today from the base camp at Cottonwood Ranch.

Summerfelt says, “Jarbidge for the time being is quite secure. We're trying to hold the fire on Sawmill Ridge there to the east of Jarbidge, and so far have been successful with that.”

Despite the winds, workers have kept the people of Jarbidge and Murphy Hot Springs safe, with no structure damage and with today's northwesterly winds, officials are optimistic.

Summerfield didn't have an estimate for containment, but with eight aircraft aggressively fighting the blaze, he says they have a good chance of slowing down the flames.