OREGON AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE UPDATE: ALL fires burning at this time in the region will be under great threat from the thunderstorms that are going to be hitting through Tuesday. Fires that have not been mopped up 300 feet into the black may come back to life and jump the lines if hit by strong winds from passing thunderstorms. In addition the storms expected are also expected to be dry storms with little or no rainfall. The potential is very high to have dozens of fires starting in Southern Oregon and Northern California over the next 72 hours. There are expected to be so many fire starts that initial response capability will be overwhelmed. Expect many new large to major fires to develop in the region through Tuesday. OREGON - OREGON GULCH FIRE - BEAVER COMPLEX: Jackson County. Lightning caused. Fire is burning on ODF protected lands in a mix of timber and brush. Oregon IMT II with Chris Cline has command. The Oregon Gulch Fire is now at 35,093 acres. It is 100 percent lined, and is at 64 percent containment. National Guard assets are deployed on the fire. Fire behavior of the Oregon Gulch Fire was minimal again yesterday. Mandatory evacuations have been dropped and all areas are now at level 1. 6 residences along with outbuildings and vehicles were lost to the fire. Highway 66 between Ashland and Klamath Falls st ill has a travel advisory on it and is for local residents and movement of fire assets. Avoid non essential travel on Highway 66. The news remained all good from the fire yesterday. Mop up proceeded in all sections. Crews are racing to get the lines secured ahead of what is expected to be a major outbreak of thunderstorms starting today. Winds from the storms could push the fire over the lines. Helicopters are pounding away at the hot spots closest to the areas where they do not have re enforced line in. Resources from the fire will be used to hit any new fire starts up in the Greensprings. There is a full resource mix allocated for the Oregon Gulch Fire including hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, and helicopters. Total personnel - 1514 STALEY COMPLEX: Willamette National Forest near Oakridge. Lightning caused. Local unit in command. 160 acres total. Fires are burning in timber. Fire behavior was minimal across the complex yesterday. Access to some fires is via helicopter as they are in remote wilderness. They are expecting fires in the complex to grow as thunderstorms with winds will arrive in the next 24 - 36 hours. Resource mix assigned includes hand crews, helitack crew, engines, water tenders, and helicopters. Total personnel - 405 BALD SISTERS FIRE: Grant County, near Prairie City. Fire is on Malheur National Forest, and the local unit has command. Fire is burning in timber. 770 acres with unkown percent containment. Minimal behavior yesterday with backing and smoldering with isolated torching in the interior. Resource mix of hand crews, engines, and bulldozers are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 223 SOUTH FORK COMPLEX: Grant County, near John Day. Lightning caused. Fires are on ODF protected land. An Oregon Interagency IMT has command. 60,020 acres, 25 percent contained. Fires are burning in a mix of grass and timber. Active fire behavior with torching, and spotting. Fire fighters have had their hands full as winds have really been driving the fires in the complex. Structures are threatened by the fire...but not many. Crews are having some success now in getting lines to help pinch the fire and keep it from spreading out sideways, but the head of the fire is still running like mad. Expect big growth to continue in this complex due to a lack of resources needed. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, helicopters, and air tankers are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 692 FIVE MILE COMPLEX: Wallowa County, near Imnaha. Lightning caused. Fires are on ODF protected lands. An Oregon Interagency IMT is in command. 24,700 acres, 50 percent containment on the Five Mile Fire. The fires are burning in grass and brush with pockets of timber. Minimal behavior on the 5 Mile Fire with creeping, smoldering, and interior single tree torching. Active behavior with running surface fire on the Somers Fire. Numerous structures threatened. The town of Imnaha is under direct threat from the Five Mile Fire. Fire fighters are having to battle very rugged terrain. The terrain is making the effort to build fireline very slow and painstaking indeed. The Somers Fire in the complex is burning on land in the Hells Canyon Recreational area. They are not really fighting this fire at all. One engine and a 10 man crew have been sent to protect a residence threatened by the fire. The Somers Fire had another big run yesterday as it was hit by winds. As it is largely in grass, that was expected. Luckily, this fire is in an isolated area in terms of structures being at risk. A full mix of resources are fighting the fires in the complex including hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers on the flats near Imnaha, helicopters, and air tankers. Total personnel - 439 ROWENA FIRE: Wasco County, near The Dalles. Unknown cause under investigation. Fire is on ODF protected lands. Joint command between an Oregon Interagency IMT and an Oregon State Fire Marshals Office IMT. 3673 acres, 65 percent contained. The fire is burning in grass, brush, and timber. Minimal fire behavior yesterday with creeping and smoldering. Numerous structures threatened including the small town of Rowena, and also the western side of The Dalles. The Conflagration Act has been declared for this fire and additional structural protection is on scene. Level 3 evacuation notices are in place. Highway 30 is closed and so are many other roads in the area. Winds have diminished over the fire and this is giving crews a great boost at getting the fire contained. The fire has been lined at the head now and they are working to get it re enforce to cut off further spread. Things are going well here as they did release over 200 personnel from the fire yesterday. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, helicopters, and air tankers are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 610 CALIFORNIA - BEAVER FIRE: Siskiyou County, near Horse Creek. Lightning caused. The fire is burning on National Forest land in timber. A national IMT II has command. 21,977 acres with 25 percent containment. Structures are threatened and protection of them has been the priority here. Evacuations and road closures are in effect. Active fire behavior seen yesterday with long range spotting. Rogueweather has spotters on Mt. Ashland reporting that the fire is very active with crowning being seen. Rough terrain is hampering efforts to line the fire. Very indirect attack being used here as they just cannot get crews close enough to engage the fire. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, and helicopters are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 1274 JULY COMPLEX...INCLUDES THE WHITE FIRE: Siskiyou and Trinity Counties, nearest Sawyers Bar. Lightning caused. A national type I IMT has command. 8,359 acres, 4 percent contained. Numerous structures are threatened. Evacuation notices have gone out and roads are closed in the area. Due to the increased fire activity on the Whites Fire, the Sawyer Bar road from Etna Summit to Whites Gulch is closed effective immediately. Fires are burning in timber. Active fire behavior with crowning, torching and spotting. The complex is in very rough terrain. Access is going to be a major problem here so a lot of indirect attack of the fires will be utilized. Gaining control of fires in this area is never easy and this will be no different. The fires have really taken off over the last three days. They do pose a risk to structures now including many residences. Evacuation notices and road closures are up now as a result. No mandatory evacuations at this time. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, helicopters and air tankers are fighting the fires. Total personnel - 463 LOG FIRE: Siskiyou County near Greenview. Lightning caused. Unified type I IMT between Forest Service and Cal Fire has command. The Log Fire is also within the July Complex of fires, but is being reported independently. 2673 acres, 23 percent contained. Numerous structures are threatened. Evacuation notices have gone out and roads are closed in the area. Fires are burning in timber. Active fire behavior with torching and spotting. The fire is in very rough terrain. Access is going to be a major problem here so a lot of indirect attack of the fire will be utilized. Gaining control of fires in this area is never easy and this will be no different. The fire has really taken off over the last three days. It does pose a risk to structures now including many residences. Evacuation notices and road closures are up now as a result. No mandatory evacuations at this time. A resource mix of hand crews, engines, and water tenders, and air tankers are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 979 EILER FIRE: Shasta County near Burney. Lightning caused. Unified command between a type II IMT from Forest Service and a type I IMT from Cal Fire. 32,416 acres, 45 percent contained. The fire is burning in timber and grass. Structures are at risk including the entire communities of Burney, Fall River, and Hat Creek. The state of California has declared an emergency and brought in strike forces to protect structures, and infrastructure at risk. Structures including homes and businesses have already been lost. Moderate fire behavior with spotting. Crews are still making good progress. Progress is being made in getting re enforced fire lines in to protect the communities at risk. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, and helicopters are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 1893 COFFEE COMPLEX: Trinity County near Weaverville. Lightning caused. A type I IMT has command. 6098 acres, 60 percent contained. The fires are burning in timber. Structures are threatened. Active behavior with spotting seen. There are access issues to parts of the fires so improving that is the main goal. Indirect lines are being put in, but it is hoped they will be more for access. Successful burn out operations were conducted to protect structures and strengthen lines ahead of the expected thunderstorms. Smokejumpers were deployed to protect a historic cabin. They wrapped it in fire resistant material and did burnouts around it to secure it from the advancing Coffee Fire. The operation was a success. Air tankers and helicopters will be working the complex hard today to shore up lines nearest to residences. A full mix of resources are fighting the fire including hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, helicopters, and air tankers. Total personnel - 558 LODGE COMPLEX: Mendocino County near Laytonville. Lightning caused. Cal Fire IMT I has command. 8500 acres, 30 percent contained. Fire is burning in timber. Active fire behavior yesterday with torching. The fire continues to burn in heavy timber. Firefighters are challenged by steep, rugged terrain with difficult access. Unsettled weather is moving into the area and may increase fire activity. The southern and eastern boundaries of the fire continue to be threatened by extreme fire behavior. Additional resources continue to arrive to assist in slowing the fire’s growth. A full resource mix of hand crews, engines, water tenders, bulldozers, helicopters, and air tankers are fighting the fire. Total personnel - 2004 Fire information brought to you by Southern Oregon Subaru, Volvo, Mitsubishi. Click here to see their complete inventory.....sosubaru/index.htm
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:05:53 +0000
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