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Smoke Outlook attached as pdf

The Smoke Outlook for southwest Oregon has been released for August

Community Meeting tonight, 6 p.m., at the Davenport Grade School. 601 Washington Street, Davenport,

YESTERDAY: The northeast portion of the fire was the most active yesterday, with visible fire and smoke throughout the day and night. Firefighters concentrated their efforts in this area with crews, engines and dozers. Fire managers were able to continuously utilize four Fire Boss aircraft and helicopters throughout the day, to scoop water from the Spokane River arm of Lake Roosevelt, for drops over this flank. Firefighters in other divisions were able to strengthen the fireline to increase containment. A group of structure protection firefighters continued work to prep and evaluate structures ahead of the fire. Structure assessments within the fire area were conducted. With improved access and better mapping, additional destroyed structures were identified. It is important to note, these structures are not new losses. During night operations, firefighters were presented with favorable conditions for strategic firing operations along the northeastern flank to reduce fuels ahead of...

Northport, WA - PUBLIC AND FIRE FIGHTER SAFETY IS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. The NE Washington Type 3 Incident Management Team asks the public to avoid Sheep Creek road and surrounding areas due to fire apparatus. The Sheep Creek fire started on 30 July 2018 in north Stevens County near the town of Northport. The fire perimeter and acreage is unchanged and remains within the boundaries of Flagstaff and Sheep Creek roads. Falling crews are cutting down hazard trees along the line to improve safe working conditions for fire crews as they mop up. Smoke will be visible today as interior areas of unburned fuels are consumed. Air support remains available to help suppression and containment efforts. Today’s weather will be sunny with a high temperature of 90. Conditions are expected to get hotter and drier through the week. One hundred troops from the Washington National Guard are integrated with fire crews on the line. Their efforts are highly effective at putting out hotspots and...

Cougar Creek, Bannock Lake, and Whitepine Fires Monday, August 6, 2018 Size: 4154 acresPersonnel: 677Location: 20 miles northwest of EntiatStart Date: July 28, 2018Cause: Lightning Current Activity: A community meeting was held last night at the Entiat fire station. Approximately 100 people were in attendance with another 108 streaming live on Facebook. Personnel from California Interagency Incident Management Team 5, the local fire department, and the US Forest Service reported on the fire’s progress and answered questions. The Cougar Creek fire is active in thick dead and down timber. It is creeping and backing down steep rugged terrain. Although there was very little fire growth yesterday, the vegetation in the fire’s interior continues to burn. The north and west sides of the fire are relatively stable. The east side is holding west of Tyee Ridge. The spot fires on the east and south side are being worked so that existing roads and trails can be used to establish a...

Current Status: Dufur, OR – As the fire cooled in the southeast portion of the fire, crews were reassigned to work through the night on mopping up hot spots and burning stumps, especially around structures in the north end of the fire. Fire fighters are focused on mopping up 75-150 feet inward from the perimeter of fire. It is estimated that there is approximately 50 miles of fire perimeter. Much of the line is cool, with the heat concentrated north of the Hix and Friend Rd. areas. The fire meteorologist is predicting hotter and windy conditions later this week. The more heat that fire fighters can extinguish now lessens the threat of the fire rekindling in the future. Fire fighters are seeing “dust or ash devils”. This occurs when solar heating hits the ground and the unstable atmosphere creates a whirlwind. This is a concern to fire fighters as the whirlwind can pick up hot burning embers and carry it over the fire line where a new fire could start outside the perimeter....

Size: 39,804 Acres Containment: 38%Yesterday a strong inversion and heavy layer of smoke brought shade and calm winds that moderated fire activity. Taking advantage of these conditions, crews continued firing operations into the night east of Chrome Ridge Road on the western side of the fire. Firing will strengthen lines and help achieve more containment. Low intensity fire slowly backed downhill towards established lines east of Chrome Ridge Road, south of Bear Camp Road, and south of Galice Creek. Galice Road is closed at mile 13. With assistance from Oregon National Guardsmen, crews mopped up, patrolled, and strengthened contained areas. They will continue this work today. This containment extends from the north side of the fire near Taylor Creek, around the entire east side, and to the southern end past Limpy Creek to the Onion Mountain Road. Crews from the Oregon State Fire Marshal will continue structure protection work near Galice. Some of these crews are being reassigned to...

GARNER COMPLEX #UPDATEDaily Update 8-6-18 11:00 a.m.QUICK FACTS:Size: 8,886 acres Change in last 24 hrs. 0 acresContainment: 82% - Garner ComplexStart Date/Time: 7/15/2018 9:00 a.m.Expected Containment Date: 8/10/18Location: Jackson CountyCause: LightningEst. Cost: $41,180,000 millionPersonnel: 894Assigned Resources: Handcrews: 23Engines: 31Dozers: 6Water Tenders: 17Assigned Aircraft: 10Structures Threatened: 564Structures Damaged: 0Structures Destroyed: 0Injuries: 17Firefighters on the Garner Complex are working diligently toward handing the management of the fire back to the local Oregon Dept. of Forestry district.Crews using palm-held infrared scanners are finding fewer hot spots near containment lines as mop up winds down. Eliminating hot spots continues along a portion of the western control line of the Grave Creek fire and and an eastern portion of the Pleasant Creek Fire.Extinguishing the remaining hot spots is a top priority for today’s crews. Pulling and removing hose from...

Weather: Mostly sunny today with areas of smoke. Westerly and terrain driven winds (4-8 mph with gusts to 14 mph on ridges) will prevail in the afternoon, with winds shifting northeasterly overnight. High pressure will build over the area early in the week, with warming and drying conditions. Yesterday’s Activities: Firelines on the northern half of the fire, consisting of dozer lines and local road systems, continue to hold as crews proceeded to further secure the lines, mop up and patrol. On the southeastern side of the fire, east of Cole Creek, crews continued using low intensity hand ignition to bring fire down a ridge line almost to Indian Creek, where they secured the fire in a rocky area for the night. Aerial ignition was used to remove some of the fuels between this area and the main fire body to reduce the potential for the fire to run to the east. Aerial resources were used to hold the fire in place on the southwestern edge, while assessing opportunities for...

Miriam Fire Update Fire Information Line: 541-786-0489 August 6, 2018 – 9 a.m. Acres: 1,106 acres Percent Containment: 5% Start Date: 07/30/18 Personnel/Resources: Four 20-person crews, 3 helicopters (others available, as needed), 14 engines, 1 dozer, 254 total personnel Location: Two miles east of White Pass Ski Area, within the Goat Rocks Wilderness on the Naches Ranger District, 32 miles southwest of Naches, WA. Cause: Lightning Estimated Incident Containment or completion: 9/1/2018 Warming and Drying Trend Forecasted for the Week Current Activity: Fire behavior at the Miriam Fire was moderated yesterday, as the area continued to dry from Saturday’s thunderstorms. Firefighters worked to improve Forest Road (FR) 540 in the northeast and and FR 1207 on the east flank as future fireline. Good progress was made on structure protection around the Clear Lake organizational camps with additional pumps, hoses and sprinklers installed. Fire...

Crescent Mountain and Gilbert FiresCrescent Mountain and Gilbert Fires (August 6, 2018 7:00 a.m.)Crescent Mountain Fire: 7,671 acres (0% contained)Gilbert Fire: 38 acres Personnel: 221Location: Approximately 16 miles west of the town of TwispStart Date: July 28, 2018 Cause: Lightning Current Activity: Fire activity was moderate yesterday with the Crescent Fire continuing to be active near Williams Creek. The Gilbert Fire is exhibiting no fire activity with little smoke being produced. Firefighters continue to work to widen existing roads, evaluate ingress and egress routes, and prepare around homes and other structures should the fire progress to those locations. The fire edge is currently 4.9 miles away from the closest structure in the Twisp River drainage.Evacuations: There is currently a Level 2 evacuation notice for residents above the road closure at the intersection of Buttermilk Road and Twisp River Road. A Level 2 evacuation notice means residents should be prepared to leave...

COMMUNITY MEETINGS: There will be two Hendrix Fire Community Meetings next week. The first one will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2018, at Ashland Middle School, 100 Walker Avenue, Ashland, Oregon. The second meeting will start at 7 pm on Friday, August, 10, 2018, at the Hendrix Fire Incident Command Post located at the intersection of Highway 238 and Hamilton Road in Ruch, Oregon. This meeting will be followed by a tour of the fire camp.Sunday will see the return of high temperatures and smoky conditions. Low temperatures will be in the mid-50s, and high temperatures are forecasted to be in the low 90s. Generally expect northwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Active fire behavior on many of the fires in southwest Oregon will provide smoke to the area.The fire’s containment date remains difficult to fully project. Firefighters have reviewed conditions on the ground and determined that the containment date should be readjusted to August 31. This is due to many factors...

Community Meeting Tonight: There will be a Fire Information meeting tonight, Monday, August 6, 2018 at 6:00 pm at the Selma Community and Education Center, 18255 Redwood Highway, Selma. Weather and Fire Behavior: A warming, drying trend will occur Tuesday through Thursday. A low pressure system moving into the area on Friday will bring cooler temperatures, but also higher winds and a potential increase in fire activity. Expect increasingly heavy smoke through Thursday mid-day when the frontal passage begins. Yesterday’s Activities: Crews continued to work reopening some of the Biscuit firelines on the fire’s northwest edge as well as identifying structure protection needs near Agness. On the fire’s eastern flank, weather conditions did not allow aerial firing operations as planned. However, ground crews conducted firing operations, gaining valuable ground on the primary containment line. Crews also continued to patrol, mop-up and monitor burnouts on the primary...

Summary: The Miles, Columbus, Snowshoe and Round Top Fires are being managed under unified command amongst the Northern Rockies Team 2 (Turman), the Oregon Department of Forestry Team 1 (Hessel) and Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Red Team (Yocum). These incidents are formally known as the South Umpqua Complex and Sugar Pine Fires. Smoky conditions across the area on Sunday helped to temper winds and moderate fire behavior. Firefighters used this break to make good progress on lining spot fires and strengthening control lines around the incident. The smoky conditions did limit air operations on fires yesterday, due to low visibility. Community Meetings: The IMTs will be hosting a community meeting in Tiller on Wednesday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tiller Rural Fire Protection District, 27598 Tiller Trail Hwy. There will also be a community meeting in Shady Cove on Thursday, August 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Upper Rogue Community Center, 22465 Hwy 62. Miles Fire: Firefighters continued...

Hamma Hamma, WA – The Maple fire is located west of Highway 101, northwest of Hamma Hamma. The fire is burning in heavy timber, 200ft trees, mature cedar spruce fir trees. Elk Lake trail runs through the middle of the fire and Jefferson Creek runs at the bottom of the fire. The fire is in a remote location and steep terrain. Resources have been ordered but due to a busy fire season, resources are in high demand across the region. Participating agencies in fighting this wildfire include the Olympic National Forest and Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Western Washington Incident Management Team (WWIMT) led by Kent Stanford, Incident Commander, assumed command of the Maple fire on August 6 at 6:00 pm. Management of this fire has allowed local emergency resources to return to their immediate jurisdictions. The Maple fire has burned 70+ acres, is 5 percent contained and has roughly 50 personnel currently working the fire. Air resources have been requested to assist with...

“On Tuesday we got the call and by Thursday we had mobilized to the Sheep Creek Fire in northern Stevens County” said 1st Lt. Courtney Wirth, 176th Engineer Company Washington Army National Guard. Ms. Wirth is on her second firefighting deployment and some of her fellow soldiers are on their third firefighting assignment since 2015. These troops are becoming seasoned firefighters and have brought that experience to fireline. At the Sheep Creek fire, Wirth participated in burn-out operations the past two days. Burn-out operations require a heightened sense of situational awareness, for example, when she noticed a tree burning in the roots and leaning, she moved her crew away from it, and alerted firefighters to the dangerous situation. After 12-14 hours on the fireline, National Guard crews return to fire camp at the school in Northport, WA, where many soldiers told us they enjoy excellent food from the DNR mobile kitchen. The Incident Management Teams appreciate the experience,...

Below are locations where Taylor Creek Fire information is distributed to the public. Many of the locations have information boards and Public Information Officers visit daily to update the the information and answer questions any questions the public may have. We may add additional locations if necessary. MERLIN Rural Metro Fire Station #1 Monument Drive Lil Pantry Gas 5030 Monument Dr.Rays 3500 Merlin Rd Dollar General 3625 Merlin DrRiffle Café 450 Merlin Dr Shell Station 310 Merlin DrLil Pantry Grocery 148 Merlin Dr Post Office 317 Josephine StCounty Fire Department 220 Peach St River Grill 330 Merlin-Galice RdBaldinis Bar and Grill 107 Merlin-Galice Rd Whitewater Cowboys 210 Merlin RdBlackbird Real Estate 190 Galice Rd Victoria’s Station 120 Galice RdMorrison’s Rogue Wilderness Adventures 325 Galice Rd GALICE Indian Mary Campground 7100 Galice Rd Morrison Lodge 8500 Galice RdGalice Resort 11744 Galice Rd Rand/Smullin Information Center 14335 Galice Rd ...

Fire Evacuation Level Change: Galice Creek and Galice Road Area8/5/18 @ 3:30 pmDETAILS:Due to planned firefighting operations for the Taylor Creek Fire, the Josephine CountySheriff's Office is issuing a Level 3 “GO” evacuation notice for the following residences:Galice Creek Road:801, 753 and 402Galice Road:11411, 11407 and