By Mike Koshmrl

Jackson Hole Daily

Via Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — The afternoon flare-up of the costly and damaging Roosevelt Fire repeated Monday, though a shift in the winds pushed the Bondurant-area blaze in a new direction.

News of the estimated 48,000-acre wildfire’s destructive path took a somber turn Monday night, when authorities informed an untold number of homeowners that their primary residences and summer homes in the Hoback Ranches subdivision had burned. A growing firefighting team that’s topped 800 personnel, meanwhile, continued working to corral the Roosevelt Fire, and as of press time officials put its containment estimate at 25 percent.

“The good news is if we can hold it below Highway 191, we won’t be closing down one of the main routes in this area,” fire information officer Louis Haynes said. “The bad news is the fire still has a head on it that’s not contained.”

During its damaging run on Sunday, the Roosevelt Fire pushed to the south, north and east. But on Monday, it began running primarily to the southeast, Haynes said.

The behavior is “about identical to yesterday,” he said, “but the winds are in a different direction, so the fire’s moving more easterly and southerly. From what I hear it’s actually paralleling the highway.”

At a Monday evening Bondurant meeting, fire managers informed residents of homes and other structures that had been lost. Pending this notification, Haynes declined to share details of what happened in the Hoback Ranches subdivision, a 6,500-acre, 125-home development from which firefighters had to evacuate Sunday for their own safety.

Crews were “backburning” the area along the highway Monday afternoon, and they’ll continue this work Tuesday to limit the likelihood that the fire jumps the highway.

On Monday, the highway remained open as fire crews cut brush in preparation for a “burnout” to clear fuel from the area and halt the fire’s spread. Crews are planning to conduct a burnout on Tuesday if the weather and wind patterns cooperate.

As crews worked alongside the highway, pilot cars led traffic through the area. The one-way stretch of traffic, from the North Fork of Fisherman Creek to the 67 Ranch area, was creating about 20-minute traffic delays.

In the 10 days since it was first detected in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Roosevelt Fire has ballooned into the No. 1 priority wildfire for resources in the country. The cause of the fire is still listed as “unknown.”

Through Sunday, the Roosevelt Fire’s financial toll on the federal government’s firefighting budget was $9.9 million.

“And that will be going up probably a million dollars a day,” Haynes said.

The estimated containment date listed on the Roosevelt Fire “inciweb” information website is Oct. 10 — 15 days from now.

The Wyoming Range’s other large blaze, the Marten Creek Fire, is estimated at about 6,310 acres and 20 percent contained. Officials are estimating having the fire fully contained Nov. 1.

Fire restrictions are in place in Teton County, as the dryness of forest fuels in Teton Interagency Fire’s district is charting into record territory for late September.

Fire restrictions allow fires in approved fire pits, rings or grills in developed areas, and smoking is restricted to certain locations. Officials are urging people to use extra caution with fire since small mistakes can have major consequences.