8-30-17 High Cascades Daily Fire Update

For a downloadable, emailable PDF of this update, click here.

Fire Information: (541) 316-8352

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest lifted the area closure around the Spruce Lake Fire at noon on Tuesday.  

Yesterday’s Activity

The Blanket Creek Fire expanded another 1,400 acres (11,895 acres) towards Hwy 62 and further into the Sky Lakes Wilderness.  Hand crews completed preparing defensible space around Mazama Village infrastructure and made good progress chipping and removing small trees, brush and debris along Hwy 62.  The Spruce Lake Fire grew 910 acres (6,675 acres) moving further north towards the Pumice Desert.  Crews completed some tactical burning around Hershberger Lookout due to continued growth of Pup Fire and continued to prep Forest Road 68 to head off the Broken Lookout (4,192 acres) and Windy Gap (390 acres) fires.  Helicopters checked Broken Lookout fire’s spread east into Woodruff Creek with bucket drops.  Structure protection assessments were initiated in the Union Creek area to evaluate and improve defensible space around infrastructure should the Broken Lookout Fire threaten this community. 

Today’s Planned Activity

Crews will be prepping indirect lines on the Blanket Creek Fire on the northeast and Forest Roads 390 and 3282 and Hwy 62 to the east of the fire. These may be used as containment lines.  Structure protection work (creating defensible space, installing hose lays, sprinklers and water pumps) will continue in Union Creek. Indirect line construction associated with the Broken Lookout and Windy Gap Fires will also continue along Forest Road 68 and 6510.  Crews plan tactical burning to protect the Red Cone area from the Spruce Lake Fire and on Broken Lookout and Windy Gap Fires.  On Paradise Fire, crews will be holding and mopping up existing containment lines on the north and west and checking fire spread in Cougar Creek.  Helicopters, scooper aircraft and air tankers are available to help slow fire spread as smoke conditions allow.  

Weather and Fire Behavior

A cool, dry trough will shift over the fires today. While temperatures will be slightly cooler (5-10 degrees lower than recent days) and relative humidity higher, the trough will serve to enhance and collect westerly winds with gusts to 25 to 30 mph by late afternoon into the evening. These stronger winds will overcome the otherwise milder conditions and result in another day of active to very active fire behavior. Spot fires could also occur up to a mile in front of the fire’s leading edges and contribute significantly to growth and spread.  While the windy conditions will be a real test of containment lines, they may help to clear and disperse smoke around the fire areas.  High pressure along with hotter and drier conditions is forecasted to return by Thursday.

A Level 1 Evacuation Notification remains in effect for Mazama Village in Crater Lake National Park. This is the first step in the “Be Ready, Be Set, Go!” system.  For more information about evacuation levels and procedures, go to http://tinyurl.com/BeReady-BeSet-Go

Smoke Outlook: A full smoke forecast can be viewed at: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5503.  To check visibility at Crater Lake National Park, check out the webcams at https://www.nps.gov/crla/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm.  

Crater Lake National Park West Rim Drive remains closed from Sunday night to Friday afternoon for road construction.  Motorists and visitors need to be aware of delays on Hwy 230 between Union Creek and the junction with Hwy 138 due to road construction.  There are also delays on Hwy 62 east of Mazama Village on the road to Fort Klamath due to firefighting efforts. 

Closure Information

As a result of the fires in the High Cascades Complex, a number of area, road and trail closures are in place within Crater Lake National Park, Rogue-River Siskiyou, Umpqua, and Fremont-Winema National Forests.  For specific closure information, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5503. Closures are enacted for public and firefighter safety.

Joint Information Center (JIC) 

Since SW Oregon is currently experiencing high fire activity, a JIC has been set up to help keep families safe and informed. JIC contact information: 541-608-1243 or swofireinfo@gmail.com  A blog is also being maintained with detailed information: http://swojic.blogspot.com   

For a downloadable, emailable PDF of this map, click here.

Fires at a Glance

Approximate Size: 25,231 acres

Fire Containment: 36%

Incident Commander: Eric Knerr

Resources

Crews: 16

Helicopters: 7

Engines: 24

Water Tenders: 12

Dozers: 2

Total Personnel: 589

Social Media Resources

Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5503

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/R6RRSNF/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RRSNF  #HighCascadesComplex