This is the
first 2018 fire season update, a periodic communication over the course of fire season providing updates on wildfire across Oregon’s
landscape and significant changes in fire conditions.
Current
Fire Activity
Over the
past 48 hours, we received over 6000 lightning strikes in north-central
Oregon. Initial attack fire activity across this region has increased and
we now have several large fires on the landscape.
On ODF
Protected lands, we have one significant large fire:
The
Graham Fire, located south of Lake Billy Chinook and north of Sisters is
currently at 2055 acres. The fire was called in Thursday at 1:30 p.m.,
and driven by wind it quickly grew to its current size. A local Type 3
team responded and worked throughout the night. ODF dispatched Incident
Management Team 2 to the fire this Friday A.M.
The ODF Team, headed by South
Cascade District Forester Chris Cline, has assumed unified command (along
with OSFM – Green Team) of the fire at 6 p.m. yesterday. Progress towards
containment was successful overnight and fire lines held through winds;
it is currently over 50 percent lined. The Jefferson County Sheriff issued
Level 3 evacuation orders (GO!) Thursday for many residences in the Three
Rivers subdivision threatened by the fire; they are still in effect. The threat
to homes also qualifies the fire for partial reimbursement of suppression costs
by FEMA. We are anticipating a successful day shift to help close existing
open fire lines.
Other significant
fires in Oregon include:
Box
Car Fire, 20,000 acres
south of Maupin; Jack Knife Fire, 1000 acres east of highway 97 in the
same area. Both of these fires are burning across light fuels, private
grazing lands and BLM. An Interagency IMT (Incident Commander – Gales) is
assuming command of these fires.
Whiskey
Fire, 7000 acres
burning on the east side of the Warm Springs Reservation is currently being
managed by the Warm Springs Tribe.
An
interactive map of all large fires in Oregon and Washington can be found at: https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/firemap.aspx
ODF
Protected Lands – Fire Statistics (approximately 16 million acres of private and public
forest and grazing lands):
To date, ODF
has experienced 230 fires with a total of approximately 2,280 acres
burned. The majority of our acres burned this year are from the Graham
Fire, at 2,055 acres. Our 10-year average at this time is 168 fires and
1,516 acres burned.
Weather
outlook:
Fire
managers expected and received increased wind, higher temperatures and drier
conditions yesterday, which accounted for the substantial growth experienced on
several fires. Conditions are expected to moderate over the next 24 hours
and then begin to establish towards a long summer drying trend. Winds are
expected to pick up again next Monday, which will be problematic for existing
fires on the landscape and could increase the potential for new hold-over
lightning fires.
Smoke
impacts:
Currently, not
an issue to the extent experienced last year, however you can stay up-to-date
about current smoke levels on Oregon's smoke blog at www.oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/. This site is an
effort by many city, county, tribal, state and federal agencies to coordinate
and aggregate information for Oregon communities affected by wildfire smoke.
The information is posted here by the agencies, while volunteers maintain the
page.
Financials:
Prior to the
Graham Fire, ODF has seen limited exposure to large fire costs this fire
season. It is too early to provide estimated costs at this time. A
FEMA – Fire Management Assistance Grant declaration was approved Thursday night
for the Graham Fire and this will provide financial assistance (75% of
suppression costs), which will be helpful in minimizing costs to the State.
Additional
Information Sources Include:
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