Deceitful pushes north of Murray

Mother Nature couldn't seem to make up her mind earlier this week when she first stoked a wildfire with strong winds, then felt bad and apologized by sending rain the following day.

Following the massive 4,400-acre, wind-fueled run the Deceitful wildfire (10% contained) went on Monday evening, wildland firefighters have made progress on the blaze with the help of favorable weather conditions. The situation has improved so much that if conditions remain the same through Thursday evening and Friday morning, residents of areas that have been in STAGE 3 or "GO" evacuation preparedness categories will be allowed to return home. Unfortunately for the businesses and festival goers of the area though, things aren't so good that Murray's marque Molly B' Damn Days event can be held this year.

Interagency North Idaho Type 3 Incident Management Team Public Information Officer Caroline McGough stated that Tuesday's downpour was timely.

"It (the rain) has definitely helped slow the progression of it," she said. "But we are expecting to have warmer temperatures and fuels drying out again."

The primary objective fire crews had Thursday was continuing a direct attack strategy with a mix of heavy equipment, air support and hand crews near Scott Gulch toward Kings Ridge, and in areas near Murray Peak. They also planned to finalize structure protections near Prichard and continue assessing structures in the northern area of the fire.

Interagency Incident Command trainee Kyle Mann explained that the reason for the Deceitful's rapid push to the Northeast on Monday was due to cold front winds aligning with extreme fuel and weather conditions.

"(These) generated intensity in the rock gulch area and spotted across the Beaver Creek Road to Kings Ridge," he said.

From there, with the culmination of extreme conditions such as low humidity and dry fuels, the fire became plume-dominated and was able to spot at a very long distance carried by northeast blowing cold front winds. This then led to several spot fires across Prichard Creek Road to the Murray Peak area.

According to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, a plume-dominated fire exhibits the increased role of the convective force generated by the heating of the fire. The fire itself begins to influence the wind field around it. Consequently, fire spread rate and direction become less predictable because the role of the general wind in fire spread becomes less pronounced. Spotting, or new fires beyond the zone of the main fire caused by sparks or embers that are carried by the wind, is normally short-ranged but occurs in all directions.

Due to the fire's remote location, rugged terrain and time of year that it is burning, Mann adds that the Deceitful is expected to continue to grow north of the Prichard Creek Road in the upcoming weeks.

"Expect suppression activities to be concentrated on steering the fire away from the communities of Murray and Eagle," he said.

Based on the most recent map, the Deceitful fire essentially threaded the needle between the communities of Eagle and Murray as it made its big run on Monday. It has since continued to grow north of Murray and sporadically in other nearby areas.

The massive jump prompted widespread evacuations and precautionary power-outages in Coeur d'Alene River North Fork Communities. A "READY" evacuation status was also placed on several Silver Valley cities such as Silverton and Osburn.

Shoshone County Sheriff Mike Gunderson explained that the READY status for the Silver Valley towns is merely a precautionary measure based on recent fire behavior and growth.

"The fire saw wind-driven growth to the northeast on the 16th and has not progressed south towards the I-90 corridor," he said.

Despite the rapid growth, only two secondary structures have been reported to be either damaged or lost due to the blaze and power has been restored to the area.

Chris Littlejohn, owner of the Bedroom Goldmine in Murray and vice president of the Molly B' Damn Days Association, commended the work of ground crews to protect the area.

"We were very proud of the Forest Service personnel on the ground. They did a fantastic job. They showed right up when it was getting close to town and they said, 'don't worry, we aren't going to let any structures burn if we can help it.'"

While Littlejohn is happy with the town being spared by the fire, he is saddened by the news that Molly B' Damn Days must be canceled.

"It's really unfortunate that it did get canceled," he said. "It's always a huge, fun event for everyone. It's really going to put a damper on the town not having it this year."

He added, "the fire has put all four businesses up here in financial hardship because they haven't been able to have customers."

If fire conditions remain the same or improve as they have since the rain on Tuesday, road closures and evacuations will be modified on Friday, Aug. 20 at noon. At that time, the previously defined "GO" category areas will be downgraded to "SET" for primary residents only. The Coeur d’Alene River Road will be opened as well for through traffic only.

Motorists should expect other road closures to change.

For the most up-to-date information on the Deceitful wildfire, like or follow the Shoshone News-Press on Facebook and check out https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7654/.