InciWeb Articles & Incidents for Washington and Oregon

Minimal fire behavior with backing, creeping, and smoldering activity occurred on the Cedar Creek and Cub Creek 2 fires this week. The 55,572-acre Cedar Creek is now 87% contained and Cub Creek Fire, at 70,186 acres, is 90% contained. No activity was observed on the Delancy Fire. Temperatures will remain cool, but humidity values will begin to drop compared to the previous two days. Fire spread is anticipated to be limited to interior pockets and along the active fire perimeter in remote terrain with mainly smoldering and creeping behavior. Crews and heavy equipment continue to complete suppression repair across both fire areas, repairing firelines, felling hazard trees along roads, chipping debris, and repairing roads damaged by suppression activity. Closure Area Update: As of September 20, the closure order for each fire has changed due to changing fire conditions and progress made to complete suppression repair. Cedar Creek Fire: ·       All of Twisp River road opens up,...

   PENDLETON, Ore. (September 20, 2021) — Proactive hazardous fuel treatments on the Pomeroy Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest were instrumental in changing fire behavior and slowing the advance of the Lick Creek Fire, which burned approximately 80,421 acres. These treated acres were critical in providing fire managers suppression options, which kept the wildfire shorter in duration, less costly, safer for firefighters, and reduced the severity of the burn in treated areas. The thinning treatments happened over the course of a decade and were designed to protect infrastructure on the District (such as campgrounds or recreation residences) and to make the landscape more resilient to large-scale disturbances like wildfires, insects and disease by reducing fuels in strategic locations and in areas that historically experienced low severity fires. Overall, within the surrounding fire area, the Pomeroy Ranger District has treated more than 35,000 acres, including 78...

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE UMPQUA & WILLAMETTE NATIONAL FORESTS Roseburg and Springfield, OR ORDER NO. 06-15-00-21-449 EMERGENCY FIRE AREA CLOSURE Pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 551 and 36 CFR § 261.50(a) and (b), the following acts are prohibited upon roads, trails, and general forest areas within the Umpqua National Forest and Willamette National Forest as described below and shown in Exhibit A. This Order will be effective beginning September 9, 2021, and ending April 6, 2022, unless rescinded sooner. PROHIBITIONS: Being on the [36 CFR § 261.54(e)] Going into or being upon an area closed for the protection of public health or [36 CFR § 261.52(e)] Being on a trail. [36 CFR § 55(a)] CLOSURE AREA: Southern Closure Boundary: Starting at the intersection of Forest Service Road (FSR) 3230 and FSR 32 in T32S, R02W, Section 6, following FSR 32 Southeast to FSR 3232, following FSR 3232 Southwest to FSR 3232-910, following FSR 3232-910 South to...

Green Ridge Fire Statistics: Size: 43,588 acres, Containment: 40%, Total Personnel: 93, Location: 30 miles east of Walla Walla, Reported: July 7, 2021, Cause: Lightning. Current Situation: Cooler weather and precipitation over the weekend contributed to minimal fire behavior, with only a few smokes observed near the Diamond Peak Road and Mt. Misery areas on the eastern areas of the fire. Firefighters continued to patrol and mop up throughout the fire perimeter. Where containment lines are secured, firefighters also completed suppression repair (such as constructing water bars to help reduce erosion potential and mastication to improve roadways used for containment lines) based on identified rehabilitation needs. Crews also worked on removing hazard trees along the roads. Today firefighters will continue to patrol and monitor fire behavior, particularly on the southern edge of the fire that has uncontained fireline within the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. Crews will also...

On Monday morning, Lane County Sheriff's Office rescinded the level 3 (go now) evacuation order on the Chaos Fire for the Bohemia Mining District.  There are currently no evacuation notifications for the fires associated with the Rough Patch Complex or Jack

On Monday morning, Lane County Sheriff's Office rescinded the level 3 (go now) evacuation order on the Chaos Fire for the Bohemia Mining District.  There are currently no evacuation notifications for the fires associated with the Rough Patch Complex or Jack

Middle Fork Complex Daily Update – September 20, 2021Northwest Incident Management Team 6Shawn Sheldon, Incident Commander   Phone: 425-324-1267 (8am-8pm) Email: 2021.middlefork@firenet.gov InciWeb: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7745   Facebook: facebook.com/MiddleForkComplex Twitter: twitter.com/willametteNF   Size:  30,761 acres                                           Origin/Location: North of Oakridge, OR Contained: 49%                                               Date/Time Detected: July 29, 2021, 2:00 p.m. Number of Personnel: 495                              Cause: Lightning   Westfir, OR – All areas of the fire received some amount of precipitation from our recent storm. This varied anywhere from 1.6 to 3.1 inches of rain depending on location. Although this is a significant amount of moisture, it is far from putting the fire out. The...

RIPPLEBROOK, Ore. – Over the weekend, crews worked to remove fallen trees and other obstacles from the roadway following wet and windy conditions.  Where safe to do so, crews are assessing hazard trees, muddy roads, rock falls, and other safety risks within the fire area. The Bull Complex has narrow roads and steep terrain.  Access into these areas is restricted to ensure all hazards are diminished prior to reopening of closure areas.  Personnel are working to ensure vehicles and equipment do not cause resource damage as roadways are cleared to gain access into fire priority areas. As the region enters a warmer and drying trend, more opportunities will be available to provide further fire suppression.  "The rain over the weekend assisted in reducing the rate of fire spread.  However, it also created a number of hazards which we will focus on mitigating to provide a safe environment for firefighters and the public," said Eric Riener, Incident Commander Trainee for Northwest...

Cougar Peak Fire Update Northwest Incident Management Team 8, Incident Commander Kevin Stock September 20, 2021   Lakeview Ore. – The rain event continued to drop varying amounts of rain over the fire yesterday morning. There was not enough rainfall to thoroughly wet all the drought stricken fuel, as large fuels across the fire area continue to smolder and put up smoke. The higher humidity levels gave firefighters a chance to continue mop-up and direct attack work. The rain does bring some issues as well.  Crews are extra cautious driving and snag trees are now falling due to wet ground and fire damaged roots. Fallers and equipment will be cutting snag trees out of road ways and areas crews are working in throughout the day. Thanks to the rain and the hard work of the firefighters, Lake County Sheriff’s Office has reduced the evacuation zones. Please see the evacuation information below. Today, mop-up continues on the eastern side of the fire, with crews working deeper into...

 John Day, Hines, and Prairie City, OR. — (September 20, 2021) The Malheur National Forest Fire Staff realize that prescribed burning is an essential part of fuels management in the Pacific Northwest. We anticipate having environmental conditions conducive for successful implementation of prescribed burning in the next couple weeks. We await regional conditions and direction to start implementing our plan.      Locally, the District Fuels Specialists will be having conversations with District Rangers (Agency Administrators) to ensure that all understand the risks and rewards and are all operating under the same vision to initiate broadcast, understory, or jackpot burns. There will also be coordination with our forest neighbors to be as efficient and least impactful to the public as we can while still accomplishing disturbance on the ground.   Malheur Forest Fire Staff will be addressing many of these details over the next few weeks to month, depending on how long this fire...

Smoke Outlook for 9/20 - 9/21Middle Fork Complex Fire Fire and Weather Potential for a few showers, maybe thunderstorms today, but expect no measurable amount of precipitation. The next few days will see a pattern of warmer and drier weather. Fire behavior should be limited to isolated pockets of heat and heavy fuels smoldering over the next few shifts. Fuels will dry irregularly with exposed open stands drying quicker than sheltered and young stands, with aspects exposed to more sunlight become drier sooner. We can expect a slow, incremental return of fire activity, with each day seeing slightly more smoke and heat sources appear. Smoke Smoke shouldn’t be much of an issue for the few days until fuels dry and fire activity picks up. Based on the weather and fire behavior forecasts, it’s likely smoke may be observed again by the end of the week. It will depend on where fire activity picks up as to where smoke will likely travel, but as has been the case, Oakridge and Fall...

Yesterday and Overnight: Fire activity remains minimal due to recent precipitation and cooler temperatures. As conditions have been proving favorable, crews began to collect and backhaul excess equipment for use on other areas of the fire. Along the north side of the fire, firefighters began to mop up burned areas around Forest Road (FR) 1706 and Old River Road. Crews worked to improve the north/south containment line (northwest of Cliffdell) to increase depth. Firefighters also scouted areas to build additional containment lines along Ridgeman Mine trail and from FR 1791-364 to Bumping River. Crews continued to patrol along Highway 410 south of Cliffdell and from the Highway 410 junction of Highway 12 to the west side of the fire perimeter. Minimal fire behavior was observed within the western portion of the fire that is in wilderness.   Today: Today is the start of a warming trend with temperatures around 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit...

Walker Creek Fire  FINAL News Release  September 20th, 2021 Tonasket, WA: Today and tomorrow, crews will continue to demobilize to be reassigned to another fire or returned home to their district for much needed R&R.  The remaining crews, which will be predominately rehabilitation crews, will move camp to the Tonasket Rodeo Grounds. The fire will be transferred back to the local district (USFS – Tonasket Ranger District, Colville National Forest; DNR – private and state managed lands) on Wednesday morning around 8am.  Rehabilitation will continue on USFS lands for several more weeks. Rehabilitation on private and state managed lands should be finalized by end of shift tomorrow.  Smoke along the flank of Bonaparte Mountain will continue to be visible until significant rainfall or snowfall occurs.  As the days get shorter daylight, the burn window will continue to decrease, which will continue to reduce fire behavior.  Internal smoke will continue as partially and unburned...

Size: 22,061 acres Total Personnel: 330 (7 crews, 13 engines, 3 helicopters, 17 water tenders, 2 heavy equipment) Containment: 50% Location: 12 miles NW of Chelan, WA Cause: Under investigation  Starting today, due to the decrease in fire activity, updates will begin to be released every other day. Reminder about Drones: If you fly, we can’t. All aerial suppression efforts are grounded when drones are detected within the restricted flight area of the fire. Yesterday: The cooler, wetter weather this weekend helped decrease fire activity. Much of the firefighters’ efforts will now focus on rehab, repair, monitoring and patrol. Crews finished much of the chipping operations along the southern and northern perimeter. They will chip along the northwestern edge of the fire for the next couple of days. Four excavators were brought in to repair dozer lines. Road crews continued to spread gravel and repair damaged roads. The BAER Team (Burned Area Emergency Response) is on...

Tamaño: 22,061 acres Personal total: 330 personas (7 equipos, 13 camiones de bomberos, 3 helicópteros, 17 tanques de agua, 2 maquinaria pesada) Contención: 50% Ubicación: 12 millas al NO de Chelan, WA Causa: a ser determinada  A partir de hoy las actualizaciones serán publicadas cada dos días debido a la disminución de la actividad del incendio. Recordatorio sobre drones: si usted vuela, nosotros no podemos hacerlo. Todos los esfuerzos de contención aérea se quedan inactivos en tierra cuando se detectan drones dentro del área restringida del incendio. Ayer: el clima más frío y con lluvias del fin de semana ayudó a reducir la actividad del incendio. La mayor parte del trabajo de los bomberos se centrará en las actividades de rehabilitación, reparación, monitorización y patrullaje. Por su parte, los equipos terminaron la mayoría de las operaciones de tala en los perímetros sur y norte, y talaran a lo largo del extremo noroeste del incendio durante los...

Fire and

Fire and Weather: The Rough Patch Fire is holding at 50,212 acres and the Devils Knob at 69,301 acres. The fires are 37%  and 49% contained respectively. Water from rains over the weekend soaked the dead wood and forest debris that normally burns well. Therefore there will be little fire activity today and tomorrow. Smoke: Though there are isolated small fires within the containment area, those smoldering logs and stumps will produce very little smoke. Southwest Oregon from I-5 east to Hwy. 97 should see mostly clear skies and Good air quality. Additionally there should be very little smoke impact in Oregon from fires in northern California.

Incident Summary:  As much as 2 inches of rain fell over the majority of the Rough Patch Complex and the Jack Fire since Friday night.  This significant amount of rain decreased fire activity across all fires to only smoldering in heavy fuels.  No fire spread has taken place for over 48 hours due to low winds speeds, 100% humidity brought by rain fall and cool temperatures.  This very favorable weather has given fire managers time to plan for additional control measures to bring these fires closer to containment and focus on fire suppression repair.  Moderate weather is in the forecast throughout the week which will further aid firefighting efforts.  Lane County Evacuation Level 3 is still in effect on the northern portion of the Chaos Fire near the Bohemia Mining District, but landowners in that area should stay tuned for potential changes to the evacuation level. Chaos and Little Bend Fires:  The Chaos Fire is 28,696 acres and the Little Bend Fire is 9,382 acres.  Fire...

Incident Summary:  As much as 2 inches of rain fell over the majority of the Rough Patch Complex and the Jack Fire since Friday night.  This significant amount of rain decreased fire activity across all fires to only smoldering in heavy fuels.  No fire spread has taken place for over 48 hours due to low winds speeds, 100% humidity brought by rain fall and cool temperatures.  This very favorable weather has given fire managers time to plan for additional control measures to bring these fires closer to containment and focus on fire suppression repair.  Moderate weather is in the forecast throughout the week which will further aid firefighting efforts.  Lane County Evacuation Level 3 is still in effect on the northern portion of the Chaos Fire near the Bohemia Mining District, but landowners in that area should stay tuned for potential changes to the evacuation level. Chaos and Little Bend Fires:  The Chaos Fire is 28,696 acres and the Little Bend Fire is 9,382 acres.  Fire...

Devil’s Knob Complex Update September 20, 2021, 8:30 a.m. Location: Tiller Ranger District Size: 69,405 acres· (·includes Mule Creek and other fires in patrol status) Big Hamlin: 19,377 acres – 92% contained Smith Fire: 49,010 acres – 28% contained Containment: 49% Personnel: 757 Cause: Lightning Smoke: http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com Fire Information: 541-900-6133 Email: 2021.DevilsKnob@firenet.gov InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7771 Facebook: www.facebook.com/2021DevilsKnobComplex YouTube: http://tiny.cc/DevilsKnobYouTube Yesterday: The Incident Meteorologist reported between up to two and a half inches of rain across the fire areas over the past few days. While this rainfall was significant, it does not extinguish a fire like the Big Hamlin or Smith fires. On the western portion of the Smith Fire in Division Foxtrot where ground conditions were drier, firefighters continued the work of mopping up and securing the fire perimeter to...