BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Phillips Fire near Fairfield infused the Wood River Valley with a little bit of acrid smoke on Friday.

The smoke could be seen in the distance west of Hailey.

The fire, first reported on the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 5, grew to nearly 700 acres on Friday, up from 150 acres the day before. By Saturday morning it was 1,600 acres.

Additional fire personnel began arriving on Friday to fight the fire, which is burning eight miles north of Fairfield in brush and timber in the Free Gold Creek drainage. It is a couple miles southeast of Soldier Mountain.

A Great Basin Interagency Management Team 3 will begin arriving this afternoon. They will assume command of the fire at 6 a.m. Sunday.

Fire personnel are working to prevent the fire from spreading into Free Gold Creek and they’re continuing to secure the line in the south and east of the fire perimeter with dozers building direct and indirect lines to keep the fire south of the Salt Bounds Road and west of Owens Creek. Aircraft are dropping retardant to slow the fire.

Firefighters were hampered on Friday by a cold front which caused windy conditions and that is expected to continue today. Firefighteers ntoed extreme fire behavior with spotting. The fire remained active overnight. Road closures are planned, as well as evacuations from Soldier Mountain ski area to the Couch Summit area.

Camas County Rural Fire Department is providing structure protection in Phillips Creek. There are incident personnel.

The fire is 5 percent contained with an estimated containment date of Monday, Aug. 10.

It has caused Soldier Mountain to postpone the opening of its new mountain bike trails.

Fire danger is rated high throughout the Sawtooth National Forest. Campers are reminded to make sure their campfires are cold to the touch before leaving them.