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Rocky Mountain Blue Team Fire Size: Maple Springs Fire 7,705 acres Old Roughy Fire 657 acres Evacuations: Call 828-479-7985 for up to date information Containment: Maple Springs 50% contained Old Roughy 100% contained Location: North of Lake Santeetlah Started: 11/04/16 Maple Springs 11/08/16 Old Roughy Cause to be determined. Total personnel: 341 responders Management: Rocky Mountain Type 2 Blue Team Burn ban in effect: www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/nfscn/alterts-notices Air Quality Reports: www.homefacts.com/airquality Summary: Despite another warm, sunny day, fire activity was quiet again Wednesday on the Maple Springs and Old Roughy fires. The 7,705-acre Maple Springs fire is now 50 percent contained while firefighters have achieved 100 percent containment on the 657 acre Old Roughy fire. An infrared flight late Wednesdaynight revealed most of the heat remaining on the Maple Springs fire is located along and inside the southern and western perimeters, with some pockets of heat in the interior of the fire. Only two hot spots were identified on the Old Roughy fire. Both those spots were located well within containment lines and do not pose a threat. Water-scooping aircraft and helicopters flew most of the day on Wednesday, dumping almost 140,000 gallons of water on the southern and western perimeters of the fire in the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness where most of the heat remains. The two CL-415 "Super Scoopers" made 52 drops totaling more than 83,000 gallons of water while helicopters with buckets dumped another 53,000 gallons of water along the southern perimeter. The use of water-scooping aircraft today will be based on operational needs while helicopters with buckets will be used to drop water on a pair of hot spots along the southern flank. As has been the case in previous days, crews will be patrolling and reinforcing existing containment lines around both fires while also scouting for potential contingency lines, helispot bases and access points to the west and north of the Maple Springs fire, extending into Tennessee. Crews are still preparing Big Santeethla Road south of the wilderness area as a possible contingency line by clearing brush along the road and identifying trees that could pose a potential threat as snags. A warming and drying trend will persist over the fire today. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 70s with the relative humidity in the 20 percent range. Similar conditions are expected Fridaybefore a cold front moves into the area Friday night. Temperatures are expected to plummet on Saturday, with high temperatures forecast in the low 50s and mid 40s over the weekend and lows in the 20s. Incident Information: http//inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5090 Facebook: http//www.facebook.com/MaplesSpringsFire Fire Information Phone Line: 828-407-0653; media line 828-552-4730  Comments are closed.
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