Pole Creek Fire Wednesday Update
Smoke Forecast – 9/19/18 at 8:30 am
Fire and Weather
The Incident Meteorologist predicts a return of Red Flag conditions today. The Fire Behavior Analyst is expecting extreme fire behavior with high potential for rapid fire spread.
Smoke
Smoke from these fires will continue to be pushed north and northeast for the next 8 hours or so until the predicted cold front moves this afternoon, at which time winds will be from the northwest. Smoke again settled into the valley overnight. Today’s air quality is registering Unhealthy in Spanish Fork. Air quality in Payson is registering Moderate. Air quality in Woodland Hills, Salem, and Elk Ridge areas will vary between Unhealthy and USG depending on location in relation to the inversion this morning. As winds switch up canyon, and the inversion lifts later this morning, air quality should improve to Good as smoke is pushed out of the area. Air quality in the Heber Valley and Strawberry Reservoir area will likely stay in the Moderate category with continued southwest winds, with the potential to slip to USG as fire activity picks up this afternoon. Air quality in the Uinta Basin may drop as far as Hazardous with a passage of the cold front pushing smoke southeast.
Air Monitoring
Temporary air quality monitors have been placed in Heber City, and in Payson to provide additional information for these Daily Smoke Outlooks.
More info can be found on the website: https://tools.airfire.org/monitoring/v4#!/simple?monitorid=490495010_01¢erlat=40.1049¢erlon=-111.7311&zoom=10&category=PM2.5_nowcast
Pole Creek AM Update – 9/19/18 at 7:30 am
Yesterday was another Red Flag Fire Weather Warning day. It was a hot, dry, windy day and firefighters faced active fire behavior across the Pole Creek Fire, with increases in acreage nearing 10,000 acres. The most active area was the northern portion of the fire above Highway 6, where flames pushed north parallel with the Wanrhodes Creek Road. Firefighters continued to work on structure protection, removing fuels, laying hose lines and setting up sprinklers to defend homes in the area. No residences have been lost in this fire.
A Red Flag Fire Weather Warning has been issued for today, the ninth such day out of the last ten. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s, with relative humidities in the single digits and sustained south/southwest winds at 8 to 12 miles per hour at lower elevations and 16 to 20 mph at the ridgetops. Wind gusts could be as high as 35 mph. Fuels are extremely dry and will readily burn. The Probability of Ignition today will be 67 percent in shaded areas and 100 percent in fuels exposed to the sun. This means that any ember landing in one of these lighted fuel beds is likely to ignite. The fire is expected to continue pushing to the north, west and east above Highway 6.
This afternoon a weak cold front will move through the area. This will result in a wind shift from south/southwest to northwest in the early evening. As the front passes, winds will be gusty and will push the fire to the southeast, which could test established containment lines on the southern flanks of the fire.
Firefighters continue to improve and secure containment lines where they can safely do so. Containment has increased and additional resources have been brought in to strengthen the suppression operation.
In this morning’s briefing, Fire Behavior Analyst Stewart Turner warned firefighters that, “Today is a heads up day. Rely on your training.” High winds have the potential to throw embers for up to one-half mile ahead of the fire. With current conditions, these embers will result in spot fires far ahead of the flame front, creating many challenges to firefighters.
Air Quality Information: https://tools.airfire.org/outlooks/CentralUtah
Area Closures: The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest implemented an area closure for the fire area, which will be in effect until it is rescinded by the Forest Supervisor. The full closure order and map can be found under the closure tab on the Pole Creek Fire InciWeb page. The closure also includes Santaquin Canyon, Mona Pole Canyon, and the Nebo Loop National Scenic Byway from Payson Canyon to Salt Creek Canyon.
Road Closures: US Highway 6 is closed at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon (Milepost 178) to the junction with US Highway 191 (Milepost 239) just north of Helper. US Highway 89 is closed at the Thistle Junction on Highway 6 to the Utah/Sanpete county line (Milepost 297 – 312). See the Utah Department of Transportation website for more information: http://commuterlink.utah.gov/CLVALertViewer.aspx?CLType-1
Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR): There is a temporary flight restriction over both fires: http://trf.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_8_1898.html
Pole Creek Fire Operations Briefing for 09/19/18