In a week of truly epic conditions on the Castle Rock Fire, it would take something extraordinary to match or surpass what took place last weekend when racing winds pushed the blaze within yards of several Greenhorn Gulch homes and the Seattle Ridge Lodge.
However, on Tuesday, what many have called the worst-case scenario came to pass. Buffeted by gusts of wind up to 20 miles per hour, flames originating near the bottom of the steep and thickly timbered Bassett Gulch 1.5 miles west of Bald Mountain raced uphill all the way the to the top of the renowned ski resort's 9,151-foot summit.
"What we hoped would not happen did happen," Castle Rock Fire information officer David Olson said around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The uphill run from Bassett Gulch took place sometime around mid-afternoon Tuesday. Around 2 p.m., a large plume of red, gray and black-colored smoke behind Bald Mountain became plainly visible from downtown Ketchum.
Olson said the fast-moving flames were helped in their race to the top of Bald Mountain by heavy timber stretching across much of the west-facing backside of the mountain.
Talking by phone from the incident command post located in the River Run Lodge area near Ketchum, Olson said he could see flames at the top of Bald Mountain from where he stood.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, however, a quick response mounted by helicopter operators had succeeded in knocking down most of the flames. At least one spot fire started by an ember sent aloft by the large smoke plume was started in the Roundhouse area on the east-facing slopes of the ski resort, he said.
A first-hand report from longtime Idaho Mountain Express photographer Willy Cook placed the small spot fire close to the Rock Garden and Upper Holiday area just above the mid-mountain Roundhouse restaurant.
Sun Valley Resort's state-of-the-art snowmaking system was turned on in several areas to wet down the seemingly vulnerable slopes.
Olson said at least several other spot fires were also started on the north-facing timbered slopes of the Warm Springs Creek drainage above lower Board Ranch.
He said successive water and retardant drops from helicopters succeeded in keeping the spot fires on the east face of Bald Mountain and in the Warm Springs drainage from spreading.
"Those were knocked down," Olson said.
As he made these comments, several hours of potentially active burning still remained Tuesday.
"There's continued apprehension," he said.
From the start, fire managers knew the extreme nature of the Bassett Gulch area, which fire managers have deemed a "problem child," would make containing the fire difficult, Olson said.
"We knew that would be tough. It (Bassett Gulch) filled its labeling."
Fire managers now must re-evaluate where to build containment lines to try and stem the flames from spreading even further east onto unburned portions of Bald Mountain.
"Now we're looking for options of where to contain it between the spot fires and the mouth of Warm Springs," Olson said.
He said fire managers late Tuesday were also considering contingency suppression actions that could be taken overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The arrival of flames at the top of Bald Mountain and above the lower Board Ranch area on Tuesday convinced Ketchum city officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order for the entire Warm Springs neighborhood west of the Warm Springs Bridge. The area has upward of 1,400 homes and is the largest residential area in Ketchum.
Also around 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Ketchum Fire Department issued an emergency request for volunteers from other Wood River Valley fire departments to help provide structure protection. The call went out at roughly the same time that the city of Ketchum issued the mandatory evacuation order.
Officials first reported that flames had reached the top of Bald Mountain around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Hampering firefighters' efforts to control the Bassett Gulch blaze was the rugged nature of the terrain, fire information officer Jim Whittington said just as the flames had reached the summit. Whittington said fire managers determined the area was too steep and fire-prone to safely place fire crews in to help control the advancing flames.
At last count Tuesday morning, the Castle Rock Fire had grown to 42,433 acres, up from 41,091 acres the day before. That represents a roughly 3 percent increase in size.
Working to control the large blaze Tuesday were a total of 1,640 firefighters, 12 helicopters, seven bulldozers and 106 engines. No lives or structures had been lost.
By Tuesday afternoon, firefighters had contained 44 percent of the fire.
Elsewhere on the fire Tuesday, firefighters continued to reinforce existing fire line and to build new fire line in other areas.
On the south end of the fire, fire crews made excellent progress on building direct hand line through the Greenhorn Gulch, Timber Gulch and Clear Creek areas, Olson said.
He said hotshot crews working in the area were very optimistic that by Tuesday evening they could connect the fire line they were building with fire line being constructed from the top near Seattle Ridge Lodge by a bulldozer operator.
The firefighters' goal in the Greenhorn Gulch area on Tuesday was to get "everything closed together and tied off by the end of the day," Olson said.
On the other major flanks of the fire to the west, north and east, fire behavior was low Tuesday.
Olson said the Fox Creek drainage and Fox Peak area remain a priority on the north side of the fire.
"There is still a lot of hard work to do there," he said.
On the west side of the fire, crews continued to build some fire line, but were also actively moving into the mop-up phase.
"That area is really looking good," Olson said.
Weather-wise, fire managers are expecting a good day Wednesday, and perhaps a better one than Tuesday, he said.
Conditions Wednesday should bring winds generally in the 10-mph range, with gusts to 20 mph, Olson said. He said the forecasts from the National Weather Service are also calling for a possibility of higher atmospheric stability, "which is good," Olson said.
On the horizon, forecasts are continuing to call for a chance of moisture mixed with thunderstorms. That will precede an expectation for a cold front by Saturday, which should bring with it more windy conditions.
At a briefing for firefighters at the Castle Rock Fire incident command post Tuesday morning, Sawtooth National Forest Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson summed up what many people must be starting to realize.
"This fire is tough," Nelson said.
Still, he commended the firefighters for their hard work and gave an optimistic outlook.
"You've been working your tails off," Nelson said. "The next few days we may get the progress we need."
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Castle Rock Fire: by the numbers
Below are some of the key statistics for Castle Rock Fire through Tuesday, Aug. 28:
· Total size: 42,433 acres or 66.3 square miles.
· Percent contained: 44 percent.
· Number of firefighters: 1,640.
· Date the fire began: Thursday, Aug. 16.
· Total cost of fire suppression effort so far: $11.5 million.
· Structures lost: zero.
For more information, call Ketchum City Hall at 726-7811, or log on to www.blainecounty.org or www.mtexpress.com.
Looking west from the Big Wood Golf Course north of Ketchum Tuesday afternoon, tall flames erupt only one to two ridges away from Cozy ski run on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain Photo by Willy Cook
