Seeley fire continues to burn as crews attempt to mitigate and contain blaze

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The Seeley fire which started on June 26 continues to burn. The number of personnel involved with fighting the fire and support staff is 690. The fire command post is the Canyon View Junior High in Huntington. There are 22 engines on the fire and eight aircraft. There are 15 hand crews with 20 people each. The fire is 17 percent contained at this time. The fire is spreading to the north and northeast. There are two bulldozers on the fire. The fire spans a 42,126 acre area which is 65.8 square miles. The Cost to date: $3,846,672.
The Weather Forecast for Thursday includes a moist trough of low pressure which has developed over the area continuing to bring an increased chance of erratic winds and possible dry lightning.
Wednesday’s Fire Activity included: Seeley Mountain on the southwest side showed little smoke as most of the dead and down fuels have now burned out. Fire crews continued to monitor a spot fire on the west side of Seeley Ridge. A hand crew used direct attack to build an additional section of fire line on the west side of the fire near Candland Mountain. Overall risk to structures on the west side of the fire has significantly diminished. Hughes Canyon continued to burn as it has for the past couple of days.
A burnout operation was completed on a southeast slope all the way to the top of the ridge. This is part of the plan to establish a good solid black line for containment of the fire along the north perimeter. This has helped to keep the fire south of the community of Clear Creek. An additional burnout operation was also initiated which established a solid black line at the north to northeast fire perimeter along the pipeline easement and into Bob Wright Canyon. Fire activity remains low along the east to southeast side of the fire with crews continuing to patrol and mop-up. Smoke continued to be visible from stringers of dead spruce burning near the southern edge of the fire line.
On Thursday weather conditions permitting, burnout operations will continue to be executed from the northwest to northeast corner of the fire. Residents can expect to see smoke over the Huntington Creek, Castle Valley and Bob Wright Canyon areas. A hand crew will continue to improve existing and build additional fire line near Candland Mountain. Crews will continue with mop-up and patrol along the east, southern, and southwest perimeter of the fire. Structure protection remains in place if needed.
SR-31, the Huntington Canyon road, remains closed at Crandall Canyon and the Miller’s Flat road is closed from SR-31 to Potter’s Pond.