Hundreds of firefighters who have battled forest fires east of Long Valley since July are expected to be heading home this week.
Colder-than-normal temperatures earlier this week combined with rain in the valleys and snow above 6,500 feet have allowed managers of the East Zone Complex and the Cascade Complex fires to begin winding down the 200 fire season.
As of Wednesday, the two complexes had burned an estimated 518,000 acres on both the Payette and Boise national forests at a cost of $83 million.
The 427 firefighters and support personnel that were fighting the East Zone Complex burning around Warren and Secesh Meadows at midweek should be reduced to between 100 and 150 by week's end, said Aaron Gelobter, the latest of a series of commanders to oversee the complex since it was started by lightning July 7.
The fast Zone fire camp, that has been operating on East Lake Fork Road since shortly after the fires started, could be dismantled as early as this weekend, Gelobter said Wednesday.
As they pull out, firefighters will take with them the miles of hoses, hundreds of sprinklers and nozzles, and acres of heat-reflective foil that had been put into place around buildings at Warren,Secesh, Burgdorf and communities along the South Fork of the Salmon River, he said.
Firefighters will still be present in those areas but only as patrols to watch for increasing fire danger, Gelobter said. "We plan to be focused, and have agility and speed where we need it," he said.
Fire crews will remain in place on the 4,566-acre Profile Fire between the backcountry communities of Yellow Pine and Big Creek. That fire is still active and could pose a threat to cabins and other buildings in the area, Gelobter said.
Other crews will work along major roads such as Lick Creek Road and Warren Wagon Road to cut burned trees near the roads before they fall on their o~vn. The work is in advance of an expected decision to open the roads to the general public in the next few days.
Those roads, as well as Warm Lake Road and other roads into the burned areas, could reopen to general traffic soon if cooler, wetter conditions continue, Valley County Sheriff's Capt. John Coombs said Wednesday.
Cascade Complex
Similar work to break down sprinkler networks, restore fire lines, and cut snags near roads has already been underway for several days on the Cascade Complex, which has burned a large area around Warm Lake, Landmark, Johnson Creek and Yellow Pine since a lightning storm on July 17, fire commander Mike Whalen said Wednesday.
Whalen was not yet ready to commit to sending home some of the 725 personnel who were fighting the complex on Wednesday from their base on Warm Lake Road near Cascade.
Work still needs to be done to ensure the edge of the Monumental Fire does not continue its march onto homes and vacation cabins along Johnson Creek Road, he said.
"There is still some active burning under the canopy, and we want to make sure that if it does dry out it doesn't go any further," Whalen said as he prepared to hand off command to a new management team on Wednesday.
