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The Town Gulch Fire ignited due to lightning and was observed and reported on Monday, August 5 at 9:27 AM PDT along Eagle Creek about eight miles NNW of Richland. Steep terrain and cliffs remain a threat to crews operating inside the fire perimeter. Winding canyon roads pose a hazard for crews traveling near the incident.
Town Gulch is being managed as a full suppression incident. Firefighters, the public and other incident responders' safety remain the top priority; followed by protection of structures, community assets and private property.
A slight decrease in acreage of the fire is due to more accurate mapping.
| Current as of | Wed, 08/14/2024 - 23:08 |
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| Incident Time Zone | America/Los_Angeles |
| Incident Type | Wildfire |
| Cause | Lightning/Natural |
| Date of Origin | |
| Location | Eagle Creek Rd Area, 24 Miles East of Baker City OR, 8 Miles N of Richland, OR |
| Incident Commander | Charles Patterson, IC Andy Baker, Deputy IC John Wallace, IC (t) Southern Area Blue Complex Incident Management Team |
| Coordinates |
44° 52' 39'' Latitude
-117° 15' 18
'' Longitude
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| Total Personnel: | 338 |
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| Size | 18,188 Acres |
| Percent of Perimeter Contained | 62% |
| Estimated Containment Date | 08/26/2024 |
| Fuels Involved |
ERC and BI indices in the Blue Mountain FDOP area will drop for tomorrow due to the rain received this morning. One day of warming will occur on Wednesday before a return to stormy conditions on Thursday. This should provide some relief for the warming trend through the weekend. Fuels in the area are mixed grass/sagebrush with timber stands. As the fire moves to the north, the timber component increases. |
| Significant Events | Moderate Interior pockets continue to burn and be consumed. |
| Planned Actions |
Continuing mop up and patrol on all divisions of the fire. Suppression repair has also begun. |
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| Projected Incident Activity |
12 hours: The weather will return to warm and fairly dry on Wednesday. Remaining heat on the Town Gulch Fire should not present a threat to the line after receiving rain on Tuesday. 24 hours: Thursday brings a return to the possibility of thunderstorms, with associated danger of outflow winds. If thunderstorms do not materialize, the threat will be minimal from weather conditions. Minimal heat should remain on the fire. 48 hours: Friday starts a warming and drying trend. There should be minimal threat from the Town Gulch Fire. Any new starts will become active as fuels dry. 72 hours: A warming and drying trend continues through the weekend, with moderate temps and poor RH recovery by Sunday. Gusty winds increase from Friday through Sunday as well. 72 hours(+): A warming and drying trend continues through the weekend, with moderate temps and poor RH recovery by Sunday. Gusty winds increase from Friday through Sunday as well. |
| Remarks |
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek invoked the conflagration act on 08/06/2024 at 1720. |
| Weather Concerns | Weather influences: Wednesday morning brought cooler temperatures in the mid-40s and excellent relative humidity recoveries of 75 – 90 percent over the fire. Mostly clear conditions persisted throughout the day with temperatures in the mid-70s to near 80, minimum relative humidity in the mid 20 percent range, and light terrain-driven winds. Thursday will bring active weather from sunrise to sunset as a couple of weather disturbances move southwest to northeast through the region. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected across the region starting between 0600 and 0800 Thursday and continuing into the early afternoon. A short break is likely, then additional storms will develop during the late afternoon and through the evening hours. The thunderstorms will be a mix of dry and wet thunderstorms, which means that some will produce wetting rain, but others will produce lightning away from any rainfall. Because of this, a Red Flag Warning is in effect from 0600 to 2100Thursday for scattered dry thunderstorms with outflow wind gusts up to 45 mph. An isolated afternoon shower or thunderstorm cannot be ruled out on Friday, however, conditions will rapidly dry out Friday into the weekend. Strong winds out of the south combined with dry and warming conditions will produce elevated to near critical fire weather conditions over the region starting Saturday. |
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