BY KAREN BOSSICK

Employees of Redfish Lake Lodge and Mystic Saddles Outfitters began moving back into the lodge and horse corrals Friday as firefighters continued to get a handle on the Bench Lake Fire.

Redfish Lake Lodge will open to guests with existing reservations on Sunday, July 28, and Mystic Saddles Outfitters will resume horseback rides that same day.

Campers will with existing reservations will be allowed back into the Redfish Lake recreation complex on Monday, and the area will open to the general public on Tuesday.

Visitors must remain 300 feet, or the length of a football field, from the west bank shoreline in the area between Point Campground and Inlet Campground to ensure public safety.

Sawtooth National Recreation Area Ranger Kirk Flannigan said the reopening of the area is being done in stages to ensure an orderly return to normal operations.

“Stanley thrives on a tourism and recreation economy dependent, in part, on Redfish Lake visitation,” said SNRA Ranger Kirk Flannigan. “We want to do all we can to limit the impact of our fire response efforts on local businesses.”

The Bench Lake Fire, which burned within a stone’s throw of the Redfish Lake Lodge is now 72 percent contained, up from 58 percent on Friday. Its footprint has remained at 2,595 acres for the past four days.

The area got a third of an inch of rain Wednesday night, and cooler, more humid temperatures on Thursday helped calm fire activity. Cooler temperatures are forecast to continue through the week, but conditions will remain windy.

Crews have been containing more fire line, mopping up and patrolling line to make sure no spot fires occur.

“Fire behavior may have been moderate, but we still have folks working hard and making good use of their time,” said Jake Williams, Great Basin Team 4 Operations.

Crews have been repairing line and trails around the first and second Bench Lakes by leveling berms, pulling slash and vegetation over disturbed areas and restoring trails to their original condition. Firefighters have removed hoses and pumps around the north edge of the fire.

Smoke from the fire has often gone straight up into the air drifting east to Challis and having minimal impact on the Stanley Basin. On Friday Stanley and Smiley Creek reported unhealthy air due to smoke from wildfires in Oregon and California that had drifted into the area. Unhealthy means that people within sensitive groups should avoid physical outdoor activity.

The smoke in Ketchum was rated moderate.

The Bench Lake Fire was reported at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11 between the second and third Bench Lakes, a popular destination for day hikers and backpackers. The fire has been determined to be human caused. There were no known lightning strikes in the area in the days leading up to its ignition.

The initial helicopter responding to the scene crashed, circumventing the quick response the Forest Service had hoped for. The pilot was able to call 911 and walk out to the ambulance.

SNRA officials evacuated the area the next day—estimating that the closure affected more than 3,000 people who were in the area escaping triple-digit temperatures in the Boise and Twin Falls area, attending weddings and a concert in Stanley.

The fire moved down to Redfish Lake and along the edge to the Point Campground. It came close to the historic Redfish Lake Lodge, which by then was being protected by firefighters and hosed down by sprinklers. Firefighters made a big stand along the lovely Fishhook Trail, a popular area for hikers leading to the Bench Lake, Fishhook Lake and the Marshall Lakes.

It could have been disastrous because there’s so much lodgepole pine killed by pine beetles in the area. But many areas had low intensity fire, leaving a mosaic pattern that left a lot of green trees.

At one time about 440 firefighters, a couple scooper planes and 14 helicopters were involved in fighting the fire. There currently are 275 firefighters on the fire, four helicopters and eight engines.