Some evacuation advisories eased on Bedrock Fire near Lenore
Aug. 16—Some of the evacuation advisories on the Bedrock Fire burning between Lenore and Cavendish were downgraded Sunday.
Areas that were previously under Level 3 evacuations were reduced to Level 1, meaning residents there could return but were advised to remain ready to leave if conditions worsened. The downgraded areas included Lenore, Sunnyside Bench, South Road, Southwick, Cavendish, Cameron and Leland. Several roads remained closed, including Cream Ridge Road, Hanks Grade, Cooks Grade, McIver and Driscoll roads and South Road from Tarbet Road to Zero Point Road.
Other roads remained open to local traffic only. More information is available on the Nez Perce County Emergency Management Facebook page.
Colby Crawford, fire operations chief from the Rocky Mountain Blue Team that recently took control of fire suppression duties, said firefighters planned to complete a burnout operation in Bedrock Canyon Sunday. The latest map shows the fire stretching north and east from the Clearwater River near Agatha and Lenore nearly all the way to Cavendish mostly via Bedrock Canyon and Louse Canyon.
But the fire also moved across breaks and benches on the north side of the river. The 10,850-acre fire is 20 percent contained. It has burned three homes and a dozen outbuildings.
The Green Ridge Fire in the Blue Mountains continued to push south along the western edge of the nearly contained Lick Creek fire perimeter and hit Misery Ridge, said Brad Pietruszka, operations section chief for the Rocky Mountain Black Team at Dayton.
"Fire did hit Misery Ridge, specifically right there on Mount Misery as well as here on Diamond Peak," Pietruszka said during a briefing posted to the fire's Facebook page. "It didn't hit it hard, it didn't come with a big head of steam, but it's on there."
He said the team is moving resources like heavy equipment south and looking for places to build fire lines. Winds are expected to shift today and turn the southeastern flank back on itself. At the same time, the wind shift is expected to challenge lines on the northeast flank of the fire near the Willow Springs Road.
The fire is 15 percent contained and has burned 34,644 acres. Its eastern flank is adjacent to the west side of the 80,000-acre Lick Creek Fire about 25 miles southwest of Asotin. The Lick Creek Fire is 97 percent contained.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
