The Mirror Lake Complex comprised of the Slate and Murdock fires have burned a combined 5,500 acres. Although containment is at just 11 percent. Resources at the Mirror Lake complex are being decreased. Public Information Officer Robyn Broyles explains why.
“There is forecasted to be two to three inches of rain over our fire area coming in this week." Broyles said, "We anticipate that rain doing some significant work on our fire to keep it in place. We don’t expect the fire to grow anymore.”
Broyles explains the weekend activity of the two fires.
“On the Slate Fire we have worked really hard to keep the fire from moving North into Weber Canyon. " Broyles explained, "Firefighters successfully contained the northern flank of that fire. With our moisture the fire has not moved much over the weekend, despite very strong winds up there. We feel good about accomplishing that goal. On the Murdock Fire over the weekend the fire did make a significant run, it was a two and a half mile run to the north and east. Firefighters were able to protect the (Mirror Lake) highway. We did close the highway on Sunday because of the concerns of the smoke impact.”
The Mirror Lake Highway was re-opened Monday morning at 10:00 am. Crews will continue to watch the fire. They ask the public not to call to report smoke.
“It is 90 percent bug-kill up in that area with the timbers, so nine out of ten trees are dead." Broyles continued, "That means that even with some rain in the area we’re still going to see pockets of smoke as that heavy timber burns itself out. That’s not a concern. Local firefighters will be in place to make sure that the rain does its job. We have firefighters that are available. We’ll be on site taking care of the structures up in mirror lake and just making sure that the fire does what we need it to.”
