Bench Lake Fire nearly quintuples in size to 738 acres, no containment
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STANLEY — The Bench Lake Fire exploded from an estimated 150 acres Sunday to 738 acres Monday with 0% containment. Two scooper planes, 211 firefighting personnel on five crews and six engines are fighting the blaze.
Aircraft have dumped 370,000 gallons of water from Redfish Lake on the fire. The fire’s growth was mapped during an infrared flight.
Despite the flames’ expansion, cooler temperatures and high humidity assisted the firefighters Sunday, the Great Basin Complex incident management team #4 reported. The team, directed by Incident Commander Steve Shaw, took charge of the incident Saturday evening.
“Hot shot crews are being positioned to assess where they can engage the fire directly by digging handline and utilizing natural features such as rock screes to begin containing the fire perimeter,” a news release stated. The crews are fighting “small fires outside of the main fire’s edge.”
Firefighters are also actively engaged “working to protect Redfish Lodge and other buildings” in the region, which have not yet been threatened, the U.S. Forest Service-Sawtooth National Forest posted on Facebook. Water pumps and hoses are being deployed on the north end of Redfish Lake.
The fire began at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the Sawtooth wilderness, EastIdahoNews.com reported previously. It started eight miles south of Stanley.
RELATED | Redfish Lake under emergency closure due to Bench Lake Fire
The Redfish Lake Recreation Complex — including all trails, roads, campgrounds and the lodge — was officially closed Friday, “allowing water scooping aircraft and helicopters unobstructed access to the lake as they have worked continuously to limit the fire’s growth,” a release stated.
RELATED | ‘Helicopter incident’ during wildfire response to Bench Lake Fire
The reason why the fire ignited is under investigation.
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