High Cascade East West Update

9-18-17 High Cascades Complex West Fire Daily Update

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

Fire update: Sunday’s dry, cooler weather allowed firefighters to make good progress on the Broken Lookout Fire. They continued chipping brush, snagging trees and prepping road systems to serve as contingency lines.
On the Pup Fire, work continued to keep the fire within the wilderness area. Conditions were good to allow small burnout operations that helped secure and extend fire lines that anchor the southern portion of the fire.
It rained overnight in the fire area, and more rain may fall today. Over the next several days, up to an inch and a half is anticipated. While this rainfall will moderate fire behavior, there is still plenty of heat under the tree canopies, and work will continue to suppress both fires.
“A little bit of rain doesn’t mean this fire is over,” said Incident Commander Shawn Sheldon. “There’s still a lot of work to do out there.”

Safety: Fire crews are assessing additional risks as they prepare for another day of work. Safety is a primary objective on this and all wildfires, so firefighters are thoughtfully considering potentially slippery road and walking surfaces as they enter and work in the fire area today, as well as other additional safety factors that come with working through the rain. Winds forecasted for later in the day could also cause trees with fire-weakened root systems to come down, so this must be addressed in the day’s work plan.

Weather and Air Quality: With the rainfall, air quality around the communities of Union Creek and Prospect is forecasted to be green for “Good” in the air quality index, with other communities in the greater vicinity, such as Roseburg, also expecting good air quality bringing welcome relief.
Closures: Many road, trail, and area closures are in place for the Rogue Umpqua Divide Wilderness and surrounding lands on both the Umpqua and Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forests. Forest visitors should familiarize themselves with these closures before venturing into the area. For a complete list of closures, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/5503/

Other restrictions: The Umpqua National Forest has lowered its Industrial Fire Precaution Level (IFPL) to III (partial shutdown). The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest remains under IFPL IV (general shutdown). For a complete description of IFPLs, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/rogue-siskiyou/fire/?cid=fseprd545253