BY KAREN BOSSICK

The fire team that has been working on the Bench Lake Fire transitioned management to a smaller Nevada Type 3-Team 1 on Sunday.

The Great Basin Incident Management Team 4 handed management duties over as fire activity near Redfish Lake continues to wind down.

The fire, deemed to be human caused, is now 85 percent contained. Its footprint has remained at 2,595 acres for five days.

One crew of 133 firefighters remains on the scene mopping up the interior, repairing and mitigating potential erosion problems. Two helicopters remain, along with four engines and four heavy equipment trucks.

Smoke will remain visible within the burn area in the coming days as stumps and other brush continue to burn. The smoke that has been present in the Stanley Basin the past couple days is coming from the Durkee Fire in Oregon, which is more than half the size of Rhode Island, and other wildfires in Oregon and California.

Those with reservations at Redfish Lake Lodge were allowed to move in on Sunday. Campers with existing reservations will be allowed to reenter the Redfish Lake area today, and the entire complex will reopen to the general public on Tuesday, July 30.

Visitors will not be allowed to hike through the burned area of the fire, however. And guests must remain 300 feet or the length of a football field from the west bank shoreline, with the area between Point Campground and Inlet campground closed.

Additionally, the Decker Flats Road remains closed from a point west of Obsidian to an area east of Glacier View outlet.

Happily, a National Prevention and Education Team from Florida has been helping to educate recreationalists about wildfire prevention and the Stage 1 Fire Restriction orders currently in place. The team has been attending farmers markets, presenting library programs and visiting campsites.

In a nutshell, that means no fires or even stove fires except within a designated recreation site or on private land. And no smoking except within an enclosed vehicle building or designated recreation site or within an area that has been cleared of flammable materials within three feet in diameter.

The interior of a stump set afire during the Bench Lake Fire continued to burn at a low rate this weekend. COURTESY: Sawtooth National Forest

This photo provided by the Sawtooth National Forest shows how some trees overlooking Redfish Lake were left brown by the Bench Lake Fire, which was human caused.

This is the latest map provided by the Bench Lake Fire management team.