InciWeb Articles & Incidents for Washington and Oregon

Prospect, Oregon – Nineteen fires on the High Cascades Ranger District west of Crater Lake National Park are being managed under the collective name Sugar Pine, which is also the name of one specific fire. Approximately 5,257 acres have burned on all fires combined. The three largest fires are Sugar Pine, Goodview and Round Top. Yesterday afternoon the Miles Fire, managed by the South Umpqua Complex, moved to the southeast, spotting and running more than a mile into the Elk Creek area. This compromised the western end of the powerline fireline that was being improved and readied for burning to stop the southern growth of the Sugar Pine Fire. As additional spots occurred below the work sites on initial spots, crews disengaged to reassess the situation. They reengaged last night and today, working with the South Umpqua staff, looking for places to cut off the fire below Gobblers Knob and across the Flat Creek Road. Additional priority work is focused on protecting...

Weather & Fire Behavior: The weather will be very similar to yesterday, with smoke from across the region impacting the weather conditions seen on the ground by firefighters. High temperatures will remain in the mid 90’s across the fire area, with winds generally light from the west. Fire behavior will be very active, depending on smoke conditions. Yesterday’s Activities: Crews monitored the progress of the low intensity burn between the 4810 and 012 roads on the northern end of the fire, allowing the burn to back at a controlled pace. Crews continued to patrol the east side of the fire, checking for spot fires and maintain the existing fire line along the 060 road and limiting growth. Along the southeastern corner spot fires were observed in the West branch of Indian Creek and on both the Southwest and Northwest sides of Kelly Lake. These spot fires were in steep terrain and monitored by firefighters overnight. Light winds over were not strong enough to move the smoke...

Wilson Prairie Fire Update Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team 8, Incident Commander: Doug Johnson July 30, 2018 - 9:00 A.M. Special Announcements: A Community Meeting is planned for this evening, July 30th at 5:00 pm at the Heppner Ranger Station at 117 South Main Street. Fire managers will provide a fire update with maps and an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of the presentations. If you are unable to attend, this meeting will be live streamed through Periscope. Please download the app, create an account and “follow” NWIMT8. Once the broadcast begins you will receive a notification. Smoke from fires in the region has drifted into the local area. Those with sensitivity concerns should take appropriate precautions. For more information on air quality please visit: http://www.oregon.gov/DEQ/AQ/Pages/index.aspx http://www.airnow.gov/ One update will be generated and posted in the morning from the Wilson Prairie Fire. The Morrow County...

Weather & Fire Behavior: Air temperatures will be lower than in previous days but will remain drier than normal. Winds are expected to be light and mostly terrain driven with occasional late afternoon gusts around 12-15 mph. Active to very active fire behavior is expected today and tonight with growth to the east and north. Smoke from the fire, as well as other fires in the region, will continue to settle into valleys and low-lying drainages. Yesterday’s Activities: Fire behavior was moderated from previous days, with most of the growth occurring in the northeast perimeter. Firefighters continued scouting additional opportunities to control the fire to the north and east and began preparing old Biscuit Fire dozer lines. Northwest of the fire, near Curry County Oak Flat, fire personnel completed preparation of the dozer line. South of the fire, crews completed preparing Road 087 to the wilderness boundary. Smoke persisted throughout the day, limiting use of air resources due to...

Long Hollow Fire: 34,550 acres Containment: 58% Reported: July 26, 4:44 P.M. Cause: Human Dufur, Oregon – Although temperatures have been high and relative humidity low, there has not been a significant growth in fire acres over the last two days. On Sunday, firefighters continued to improve fire perimeter lines. The estimated containment is 58% and 34,550 acres. Temperatures Monday are forecast to be 98 to 103 degrees, minimum humidity 13 to 17%. Wind is expected to be up to 5 mph from the northwest in the morning, increasing to 8 mph from the north/ northwest in the afternoon. Hot and dry conditions will continue through Tuesday. On Monday, firefighters will continue to patrol, hold and improve existing hand and dozer line along all divisions of the fire. Fire personnel resources are slowly being released as the fire activity decreases. The Deschutes River access road and Highway 216 are open. The Deschutes River evacuation level in Segment 3...

Total size: 24,965 acresThe Taylor Creek Fire is now being managed separately from the Garner Complex. Chris Schulte’s Pacific Northwest Team 2, a Type 1 Incident Management Team, and Scott Magers’ Oregon State Fire Marshal Blue Team assumed unified command of the Taylor Creek Fire this morning. Oregon Department of Forestry Team 1, led by Joe Hessel, will assume command of the Garner Complex at noon today. All crews currently working on the Taylor Creek Fire will remain in place. Additional Oregon State Fire Marshal structure protection crews have been moved from the Grave Creek Fire, which nears full containment, to the Taylor Creek Fire, which is approximately 8% contained. Yesterday’s Activities: A large plume from the Klondike Fire (burning about 7 miles to the southwest in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness) shaded the Taylor Fire and provided some relief from the hot, dry conditions. Firefighters took advantage of the decreased fire activity by continuing to secure...

Chelan, WA – The Chelan Hills fire is located east of Highway 97, south of the Beebe Bridge. The fire is burning in grass, short brush, and wheat fields. Some structure were reported as damaged. Sunday, crews investigated to confirm any

For Public Information call the Joint Information Center: 541-474-5305 (7 am—11 pm) Media Information Line: (541) 660-7634 Fire Information: (541) 660-8056 Information Center Blog: SWOJIC.blogspot.com https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5935/ email: garnercomplexinformation@gmail.com The Taylor Creek Fire was active again today on the northeast side. The fire crossed primary containment lines and moved into the Galice Creek drainage, but the fire was still within secondary bulldozer lines. Crews overnight are working around the fire securing and holding the line. With the Graves Creek Fire in good shape and largely in mop-up mode, two of the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s structure task force teams have been reassigned to work on the Taylor Fire. Weather today was 3-5 degrees cooler than yesterday with higher humidity. Smoke from the Klondike Fire burning in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness helped to suppress tem- peratures. The increased smoke limited the use of aircraft for...

July 29, 2018 Josephine County Sheriff's Office issued a summary of current evacuation levels due to the Taylor and Klondike fires. The levels relevant to the Klondike fire include:Level 3 - Oak Flat Community on Illinois River RoadLevel 2 - Illinois River Road from Milepost 2.5 to Oak Flat

Update 7/29/18 at 12:40 p.m.: Following the recommendation of fire officials, the evacuation level on Graves Creek Road, north of Ditch Creek, has been reduced from Level 2 (Be Set) to Level 1 (Be Ready). ### Update 7/25/18 at 2:40 p.m.: Following the recommendation of fire officials, the evacuation level on Graves Creek Road, north of Ditch Creek, has been reduced from Level 3 (Go) to Level 2 (Be Set). If residents in this area have registered for Citizen Alert since the original evacuation, they will receive a notification at some time today. No other evacuation levels for the Grave or Pleasant fires have changed. For information about evacuation levels and other preparedness information, go to www.rvem.org . Information related to the Garner Complex fires can be found at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5935/ . ### Update, 7/20/18 at 4:40 p.m.: Due to increased fire behavior, the Graves Creek Road area previously designated as a Level 2 (Be Set) evacuation has been upgraded...

Smoke Outlook for 7/29 - 7/30 Western Oregon-California Border Natchez and Klondike Fires Issued at: 2018-07-29 14:45 UTC Fire Continued elevated fire behavior is expected for the Natchez and Klondike fires. Smoke has been limiting fire behavior until it clears in the mid-late afternoons. The many fires across SW OR and NW CA will remain active, producing the most amount of smoke in the mid to late afternoon. Smoke Poor air quality conditions persist throughout outlook area as transport winds have been weak at lower levels. General transport of smoke has been and is expected to remain towards the southeast. Communities directly downwind from fires are expected to have the worst air quality, reaching hazardous levels for periods of time. Down valley winds are likely to transport smoke as evening time sets in. As fire activity increases, air quality is expected to deteriorate. Other Additional smoke monitors have been placed in the communities of Agness and...

Smoke Outlook for 7/29 - 7/30 Western Oregon-California Border Natchez and Klondike Fires Issued at: 2018-07-29 14:45 UTC Fire Continued elevated fire behavior is expected for the Natchez and Klondike fires. Smoke has been limiting fire behavior until it clears in the mid-late afternoons. The many fires across SW OR and NW CA will remain active, producing the most amount of smoke in the mid to late afternoon. Smoke Poor air quality conditions persist throughout outlook area as transport winds have been weak at lower levels. General transport of smoke has been and is expected to remain towards the southeast. Communities directly downwind from fires are expected to have the worst air quality, reaching hazardous levels for periods of time. Down valley winds are likely to transport smoke as evening time sets in. As fire activity increases, air quality is expected to deteriorate. Other Additional smoke monitors have been placed in the communities of Agness and...

The Southwest Oregon Joint Information Center has released the update for July

Release Date: 7/29/18INCIDENT: Fire Evacuation Level Change:INCIDENT DATE AND TIME: 7/29/18 @ 12:00 pmREPORTING DEPUTY: C. KraussDETAILS:Due to the planned firefighting operations, including backburns, for the Taylor Creek wildfire, residences on Riverbanks Road between 7293 and 8549, including the following road: Burnette Road are being placed on a Level 3 "GO" Evacuation. Do not delay leaving to gather any belongings or make efforts to protect your home. This may be the last notice you receive. A shelter has been established at Grants Pass High School. Josephine County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue will be performing door to door notifications.If you have not signed up for Josephine County Citizen’s Alert, Josephine County’s emergency notification system, you can sign up on line at www.rvem.org.The Red Cross evacuation shelter remains active at Grants Pass High School, 830 NE 9th St, Grants Pass, OR 97526.The Fire Information Center can be reached at...

A community meeting is planned for July 30, 2018, 5:00 pm at the Heppner Ranger District office, Heppner, Oregon.Fire officials will provide:Current and future Wilson Prairie Fire situation.Update on the regional and national fire outlook; andQuestion and answer period will follow. Please join us.

Miles Fire and Columbus Fire burned actively on Saturday, but fire spread was slower than on Friday. Relative humidity stayed a little higher, and spot fires were less common and closer to the main fires. The Snowshoe Fire had some residual pockets of fuels burning on the northwest end, but fire personnel made good progress on mopping up the edges of the fire. Some resources are being shifted from Snowshoe Fire to Miles Fire, which is now the top priority for South Umpqua Complex. Miles Fire continues to push to the east toward Hawk Mountain and Buckhorn Mountain. Burnout was completed on about ½ mile of line on the Umpqua National Forest to the south of Miles Fire. Fire managers are coordinating fire fighting activities between Miles Fire and Sugar Pine Fire. Helicopters assigned to Sugar Pine Fire have been flying on the Miles Fire when the air is clearer to the west. Establishing control lines on private and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands is a priority to prevent...

Hendrix Fire – Sunday July 29, 2018 Morning Update Hendrix Fire Now 70% Contained; Pacific Crest Trail Now Open Acres: 1,081 acres Cause: Lightning Percent Containment: 70% Start Date: 07/15/18, 8:30 am Location: 9 mi SW of Ashland, OR Expected Containment Date: 08/31/2018 Jurisdiction: Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest & Private Land Resources: 275 personnel, 7 Hand Crews, 1 Helicopter, 5 Engines, 1 Assigned Dozers + an additional Dozer on loan from cooperators, and 5 water tenders. The southeast corner of the fire continues to be monitored without a containment line due to the steep rough topography. Fire personnel will scout the area for opportunities to develop containment in this area as part of a full suppression strategy for the Hendrix Fire. Northwest Team 12 has transitioned with the Gila/Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team. Members of the Gila team shadowed Northwest Team 12 on Saturday and took responsibility this morning at 6:00 am.The...

Timber Crater 6 Fire Update July 29, 2018, 10:00 am NW Incident Management Team (IMT) 9, Brian Goff, Incident Commander Contact us at: TimberCrater6.2018@gmail.com - Fire Information: 541-238-2084 (GoogleVoice) or 541-291-4158 Crater Lake National Park, OR – The Timber Crater 6 Fire is now 3,126 acres and is 65% contained. Work to strengthen and improve containment lines continued on the southern perimeter of the fire. Firefighters reported creeping and smoldering fire behavior along the fire line. Crews continued with mop up and cold trailing, locating hot spots near the perimeter and extinguishing them. The Timber Crater 9 Fire was held to one-half acre. Firefighters completed a containment line around the fire and mopped up inside the perimeter. The crew on the Timber Crater 9 Fire were extracted by helicopter yesterday afternoon. Moving forward, Timber Crater 9 will be unstaffed but will be monitored from the air. At approximately 12:30 pm yesterday, July 28, 2018, a new...

Weather & Fire Behavior: Weather conditions will be more moderate than the previous two days, however the air will remain drier than normal. The dry, hot conditions are expected to result in active to very active fire behavior, with potential for fire behavior to increase as smoke clears. Yesterday’s Activities: Despite efforts to hold the fire south and west of the Illinois River, extreme fire behavior the previous day resulted in spotting across the dozer line that was constructed along Roads 675 and 4105. Due to the potential for continued extreme fire weather and risk to firefighter safety, firefighters were not able to suppress all of these spot fires resulting in fire becoming established in the Horse Mountain area. Firefighters scouted additional opportunities to control the fire and began preparing old Biscuit Fire dozer lines. Northwest of the fire, near Curry County Oak Flat, fire personnel continued to open up and prepare control lines previously constructed during...

COMMUNITY MEETING WILL BE HELD IN HAPPY CAMP AT THE HAPPY CAMP GRANGE ON SUNDAY, JULY 29 AT 6:00 P.M.