from the Idaho Statesman

The Cabin Creek Fire is burning between Horse Mountain and Vinegar Hill near the junction of Cow Creek and Cabin Creek.

So far 750 acres have burned.

The Forest Service hasn’t closed any areas yet but strongly recommends that non-fire personnel stay away from the area and Big Creek Trail.

The Cabin Creek airstrip will be closed through Friday, and the Forest Service will re-evaluate the closure at the end of the day.

The fire is moving quickly through grass, and the weather is expected to remain hot.

A helitack crew continues to make bucket drops on the fire, and a smokejumper crew has been sent to protect Taylor Ranch as a preventive measure, the Forest Service said. Taylor Ranch is not immediately threatened.

It is a human caused fire.

I sure hope the human was not a pilot. Bad news in any case.

CAVU

I was in there today. The place looks a little different.... It wasn't a pilot.

I'll see if I can get some pictures tomorrow.

Hey L&S,

I'm headed back up that way this next week. This is the first fire report that I have heard of for this season up that way. Are there any more burning? Was the fire right at the strip? I hope you can get some pics. Bummer, I was planning on going in there to show it to a friend.

Anyway, if you can give us a general fire report of the region, it would be aprreciated....although I would suspect that there isn't much to report.

Thanks,

GSP

Here's a map of active "large" fires from the USFS.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

there is only two that i know of the one at cabin creek and another that's been burning for some time at rush creek, that's what the pilots at arnold aviation are telling me

1SeventyZ wrote:Here's a map of active "large" fires from the USFS.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

According to that website, the expected containment date isn't until the end of September. Does that mean they expect this to be a small/slow burner that they are going to let burn itself out? Or is it going to be a big raging inferno?

For those of you who live up there, how is the visibility in the Big Creek/Johnson Creek area? We are planning on heading up this weekend, but not if the visibility is going to be less than ideal.

Thanks,

-Matt

It's been a really nice summer. We have had some smoky days, but that is all drift smoke from Northern California. 2 or 3 times, I've been in smoke with vis down to 2 or 3 miles, and BOI, MYL and SMN have reported vis as low as 5 miles on occasion, but that's about it. Compared with last summer, this has been a piece of cake, smoke-wise.

Vis in Johnson Cr and Big Creek has been nice. The fire at Cabin Creek is smoking up the Big Cr drainage some, but mostly in the morning. The inversion is usually out by 10. And Big Cr Strip is just fine, the Cabin Creek smoke doesn't go that far up river.

John

Low&Slow wrote:It's been a really nice summer. We have had some smoky days, but that is all drift smoke from Northern California. 2 or 3 times, I've been in smoke with vis down to 2 or 3 miles, and BOI, MYL and SMN have reported vis as low as 5 miles on occasion, but that's about it. Compared with last summer, this has been a piece of cake, smoke-wise.

Vis in Johnson Cr and Big Creek has been nice. The fire at Cabin Creek is smoking up the Big Cr drainage some, but mostly in the morning. The inversion is usually out by 10. And Big Cr Strip is just fine, the Cabin Creek smoke doesn't go that far up river.

John

That's what we wanted to hear. Thanks,

-Matt

ShamuPilot wrote:
According to that website, the expected containment date isn't until the end of September. Does that mean they expect this to be a small/slow burner that they are going to let burn itself out? Or is it going to be a big raging inferno?

Thanks,

-Matt

That means they're not going to do anything with it, and let Mother Nature contain it with the first snowfall. Slow burner, or raging inferno, doesn't matter. Right now though, both the Cabin Creek and Rush Creek fires are pretty slow movers, however the Cabin Creek fire did burn 700 acres the first day.

So is Cabin Creek closed? As in, did it burn right at the strip? Bummer. Guess we won't be going in there next week.

Shamu, when are you guys leaving to go back to CA. We should be into JC around 10am or so. Maybe we will see you back there. Have a good trip.

GSP

Grassstrippilot,
We will be into JC Friday night, and leaving Sunday morning, with Shamupilot and company. Do hope to see you there.
Tom

Here you go. Narrow your search to any particular state in the upper right corner. Maps and pictures updated every day or two. The site is a bit finicky at times, you may need to try again later.



http://www.inciweb.org/

Grassstrippilot wrote:So is Cabin Creek closed? As in, did it burn right at the strip? Bummer. Guess we won't be going in there next week.

GSP

The strip is open, but virtually everything around it is burned. The camping area near the creek about half way up the strip seems to have survived though, but the smoke jumpers are camped there now. It's worth a fly-by, if nothing else, to check it out.

John

Thanks for the report. We'll atleast fly by. If you happen to be back by there over the weekend, would you post one more update? We won't be up that way until Monday or Tuesday.

Bummer guys! Sounds like we will just miss you. We won't be up there until Monday morning. Well, have a good time and leave us some firewood at JC.

For anyone else in the area, we will be there from Monday to Wednesday. Stop by if you are around.

GSP