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Show Fire eeare 11 ngros ira CImoI UmMmm knm BLM and Forest Service crews have finally extinguished exting-uished a fire that raced through sage brush and thickets on the east side of the Mineral Mountains, about 15 miles north of A dams -vllle last week. The fire started when BLM crews, under Ron Berkey, district fire control officer, were trying to burn a fire line for a controlled burn of about 1,000 acres when the fire got out of control and burned a strip over a mile wide and several miles long beyond the controlled burn area. Morgan Jensen, BLM District Dis-trict Manager said the crews were burning the fire line instead in-stead of bulldozing a double wide fire line to avoid scaring the land. 4 As the crews attempted to burn a fire line in winds ranging from 43-50 miles per hour, the fire got out of control and burned out of control until finally contain - , ed on Wednesday and controlled con-trolled on Thursday, burning ; according to BLM estimates, 3,100 acres. Other es- t timates ranges up to 4,000 i acres. i, The controlled burn was 1. planned for last spring, but . due to a wet spring, it was I, put off until fall, k. The burned area lies east E of Shag Hallow in the Crater Knoll area between the road running north from Adams -a ville and the 1-15 freeway. irii The planned burn was to a, have been reseeded this fall tot as part of a planned habi-j,t habi-j,t tat management development anj , Plan- lo! There are no immediate estimates . as to damage, ta since no livestock have been he reported lost in the fire, Jhe the damage would be to wild-irt! wild-irt! life and their habitat. TI11 BLM crews were using a' n a "Dragon Wagon", a self contained con-tained fire fighting machine tai to cut the fire line and plan - m; ned to use it to contain the o ff controlled burn. However, Jt when the fire raged out of 'rJf control, John Russell, vt m's Fire a crew, . j from Boise, Idaho were j hg rushed in, and there were roc( approximately 270 BLM and 3tlif Forest Service personnel on ncl( hand fighting the fire. Iast Local reaction to the fire late was mlxed as hunters and et(( others saw their favorite if: haunts going up in smoke, laJ and fire crews seemingly not (a) making a significant effort V tostP. f0I, On the other hand, some t stockmen considered the burn beneficial, and wished wish-ed it were an even bigger area. Some even offering to help it along. The area will be reseeded, reseed-ed, and except for loss of cover for deer and wildlife, the range should be greatly great-ly improved. |
