 The
past 48 hours has been a very dynamic wildfire situation fed by continued drying of
fuels, high temperatures and Oregon’s first state-wide lightning event that
started Sunday and ran through Monday evening. Storms tracked from
southwest to northeast Oregon igniting over 140 wildfires in its wake. In
ODF’s southwest Oregon District alone, we currently have 68 reported fires in
the past 36 hours and over the next several days I would expect many more to
surface with the continued warming trend. Gusty winds are also expected
over the next few days followed by a potential for lightning later in the
week. Given this forecast, fire conditions over the next 7 days are likely
to grow more complex.
All ODF
employees play a role in the fire response along-side Oregon’s firefighting
contractors, forest and range landowners, forest operators and partnering
agencies. Working together we continue to see incredible fire stops
across the state. Coordination with local structure fire jurisdictions in
southwest Oregon has been outstanding in protecting structures where multiple
fires have threatened the wildland urban interface. The following is a
snap shot of the larger fires that are now burning across Oregon’s landscape:
Fires
on ODF protected land
Silver
Creek Fire ODF and
local cooperators responded with both aerial and ground forces after it was
located last Friday morning in a remote, densely forested area inside Silver
Falls State Park. The fire is now 55% contained at 27 acres and no injuries reported. 125 personnel are on the fire
continuing mop-up efforts in the steep terrain with hazardous snags and heavy
fuels.
Garner
Complex Fire ODF Incident Management Team 2 (Cline) was deployed to the Garner
Complex near Grants Pass last evening. This is a complex series of fires
burning approximately 1000 acres including the Grave Creek, Pleasant Creek and Spencer Creek Fires. Growth potential
on these fires is significant given the complexity of fuel conditions, terrain
and predicted weather; this fire has ODF’s full attention.
Wagner
Complex Fire near
Medford includes over 35 fires for approximately 250 acres. Local
resources are making great progress here to contain these fires, but they will
be tested over the next several days.
Other
fires in Oregon that ODF is engaged in include:
Cemetery
Fire. 32 miles E/SE of
Prineville. Interagency Incident Management Team (Johnson) is currently assigned
to the fire. Start: 16 July. Cause: Lightning. 1000 acres. Well-established in
timber, heavy dead and down fuel. Threat to infrastructure, sage grouse habitat
and old growth. Rangeland Fire Protection Association (Post – Paulina) is
currently engaged on the fire.
Hendrix
Fire. 3 miles SW of
Ashland. Interagency Incident Management Team (Harrod) is currently assigned to
the fire. Start: 15 July. Cause: Lightning. 170 acres, in timber.
This fire is currently lined and fire fighters are working to hold the spread
of the fire. This fire threatens ODF protected lands, rural residences and
private timber. Steep, rugged terrain. Accordingly, ODF is engaged with key
leadership on this fire.
Umpqua
Complex - including the Miles Fire.
10 miles SE of Tiller. Interagency Incident Management Team (Sheldon) is
assigned to the fire with Unified Command established with ODF, given the
threat to ODF and Douglas Forest Protective Association protected lands. Start:
16 July. Cause: Lightning. 100+ acres
Currey
Canyon Fire. 1 mile NE of Juntura. Start: 14 July.
Cause: Unknown. 3,100 acres. 90% containment. Grass and Brush. Minimal fire
behavior. Ramping down and releasing resources. Rangeland Fire Protection
Association (Juntura) was critical in the suppression efforts on this fire.
Ben Lane
Fire. Is burning in the
Warm Springs Reservation. 430 acres. 70% contained. Excellent
progress has been made here by local resources.
Klamathon
Fire. This fire is now
95% contained and burned 38,000 acres along the California boarder. In
coordination with Cal Fire and local cooperators including BLM, we were able to
minimize acres burned in Oregon to 2000 acres. You may recall this was a
very explosive fire with great potential to burn deep into Oregon’s landscape
and I’d like to extend a great appreciation to those firefighters who prevented
the continued spread of this fire. Ultimately, eighty-two structures were
lost on this fire (none in Oregon) and suppression costs totaled $32.4 million.
Natchez Fire. 15 miles SE of Cave Junction and south
of the Oregon/California boarder. Interagency Incident Management Team (Lawson)
is currently assigned to the fire. Start: 16 July. Cause: Lightning. 200
acres in timber and steep terrain, not readily accessible. Potential threat to
powerlines.
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 (approximately
16 million acres of private and public lands):
To date, ODF
has experienced approximately 475 fires with a total of 6,000 acres
burned. Our 10-year average at this time is 351 fires and 5,155 acres
burned.
Smoke
impacts:
Currently,
smoke impacts are on the rise due to the number of fires in southwest Oregon.
You can stay current on smoke levels on Oregon's smoke blog at www.oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/.
This site is a joint effort by city, county, tribal, state and federal agencies
to coordinate and aggregate information for Oregon communities affected by
wildfire smoke.
Financials:
-
Total
estimated gross large-fire suppression costs for ODF Fire Protection from
April 2018 to current: $6.2 million.
- Our 10-year
annual average for large-fire suppression costs is $34 million.
Consistent with
past years, the Department will be closely tied with the Legislative Fiscal
Office and Chief Financial Office over the duration of the fire season to
maintain full awareness on fire season costs.
Additional
Information Sources Include:
Thank you for
your interest in Fire Protection for Oregon. Our mission is clear and we
will work closely with all partners, striving to minimize acres burned,
resource loss and cost from wildfires. As
always, feel free to contact me or Deputy Chief Ron Graham directly with any
questions.
Doug Grafe,
Chief Fire
Protection, Oregon Department of Forestry Ron Graham, Deputy Chief Fire Protection, Oregon
Department of
Forestry
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