Lookout Fire                                                                       

August 20, 2023

Morning Update

Size: 10,521 acres                                      

Start Date: August 5, 2023

Point of origin: 3 miles North of McKenzie Bridge, OR

Cause: Lightning

Total personnel:  959

Resources: 50 engines l 19 crews l 10 bulldozers l 19 water tenders l 6 masticators l 7 helicopters

OSFM Resources: 7 task forces
 

Current Situation: Yesterday, heavy smoke and light winds moderated fire activity allowing firefighters to conduct burnout operations and further strengthen control lines. Today, the fire area is under a Red Flag Warning due to low humidity, relatively high temperatures and wind, which may increase fire activity. The fire continues to move towards the north and northeast. To date, no structures have burned due to the Lookout Fire.

Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) task forces continue to prep structures within the Highway 126 corridor, East to Belknap Springs, and in the Scotts Creek area. Crews also prepped vital infrastructure using aluminized wrap. This material is used to protect buildings from radiant heat and embers.

Today’s activities: In the south off Forest Road 700, firefighters have successfully secured control lines, providing an anchor point to the fire protecting Taylor Road and North Bank. Fire personnel will remain in the area extinguishing hot spots and will monitor the fire perimeter. In the west, off Forest Road 2633, crews are continuing preparation and strengthening control lines using targeted strategic firing operations when conditions allow. In the southeast, crews and heavy equipment are working to strengthen control lines. In the north off Forest Road 1508, crews are working into the Deer Creek drainage removing snags, using fallers and heavy equipment.

Structure crews continue to complete tactical patrols around the clock. Tactical patrols are conducted to continually monitor assigned areas for fire danger and address safety issues. Crews will continue to assist wildland resources in keeping the fire above the 700 road, along the southern aspect of the fire perimeter. 

Evacuation Centers: There is an evacuation center for people and small pets at the Lowell High School for evacuees from the Bedrock and Lookout Fires. A large animal shelter is set up at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene.

Evacuations: In Lane County, there is a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation notice for Taylor Rd., North Bank Rd., all areas north of Highway 126 between Blue River Reservoir Rd. and Drury Ln., the area south of Highway 126 to the McKenzie River from the east end of McKenzie River Dr. to the McKenzie River Bridge just east of Taylor Rd., Mona Campground, Lookout Campground, H.J. Andrews Headquarters and  the area west of Highway 126 from Scott Rd. north into Linn County. There is a Level 2 (Be Set) from Highway 126 from the Highway 242 junction to Scott Rd., Paradise Campground, FS Rd. 302, Belknap Springs Rd. S., Belknap Hot Springs Rd., the area east of Highway 126 from Scott Rd. north into Linn County. There is a Level 1 (Be Ready) evacuation notice for areas south of Highway 126 from Blue River Reservoir Road east to Foley Ridge Road., McKenzie River Dr., Highway 242 to FS Road. 220, Yale Ln., Camp Yale Road., FS Road. 2643 southeast to the 445 spur road. Residents of Horse Creek Road and King Road remain in a Level 1 evacuation notice. For current information please see Lane County’s website at: https://www.lanecountyor.gov/cms/one.aspx?pageId=19729054

In Linn County, there is a Level 3 (Go Now) for Olallie Campground, Trail Bridge Reservoir & Campground, and the trail systems and roadways north of the Linn County line, and west of Highway 126, extending north to intersection of National Forest Service Road 730 and Highway 126.

A Level 2 (Be Ready) for the area from the east side of Olallie Campground east to the Willamette National Forest Boundary, north along boundary to Ice Cap Campground and Trailhead, then west to encompass Lakes End Campground and trail system, and south in line with the intersection of National Forest Service Road 730 and Highway 126 (entrance to the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric facility). Tamolitch Falls/Blue Pool and Smith Reservoir are within this Level 2 (be set) Evacuation Zone.                                                                                        

Level 1 (Be Ready) evacuation zone for areas north of Ice Cap Campground, extending east to the Willamette National Forest boundary, and north in line with Highway 20. This includes all areas around Clear Lake, and Clear Lake Campground. For current information please see Linn County’s website at: https://www.linnsheriff.org/2023/08/lookout-fire-update-august-17-2023-330-p-m/

Weather: A Red Flag warning is in effect for low humidity and gusty winds. 

Closures: Highway 242, McKenzie Highway, is closed between milepost 61-76, 14 miles west of Sisters, Oregon to just east of the junction with Highway 126. Highway 126 is currently open. Please monitor Trip check for any updates https://tripcheck.com/  

Willamette National Forest closures can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/willamette/alerts-notices/?cid=fseprd552029Restrictions: Fire Restrictions are in place on the Willamette National Forest: https://www.fs.usda.gov/willamette

Smoke Outlook:  Smoke outlooks for Lookout Fire are available at  https://outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook/4c92bc1a?

Information Line: 541-215-6735 8am-8pm |  Email: 2023.lookout@firenet.gov                                             

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LookoutFire2023

Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/orwif-lookout-fire

Resources: 404 Total Personnel | 4 Hand Crews | 16 Engines | 5 Water Tenders | 7 Helicopters

(Newhalem, Wash.) -- The Sourdough Fire started with a lightning strike on July 29 near Diablo in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, 7 miles northeast of Newhalem. Based on last night's infrared flight, the Sourdough Fire is estimated at 5,618 acres and is 12% contained. Today, August 20, at 6:00 a.m., Incident Commander Kevin Stock with Northwest Incident Management Team 8 assumed command of the incident. All fire team members shadowed their counterparts yesterday to ensure a smooth resource transition. Fire growth has primarily remained in the inaccessible terrain to the north, away from roadways, structures, and populated areas. This remote fire section may require monitoring until season-ending precipitation extinguishes it, as direct intervention is too risky for firefighters.

Yesterday: Operations team personnel flew over the fire to examine the current fire behavior and landscape challenges. Work to repair damage done during suppression efforts has begun in areas where the fire has been secured on the southern portion. The 2015 Goodell burn scar, utilized as a control feature, held the western portion of the fire perimeter in place against strong easterly winds. Resources monitored and continued mop-up operations as they remained prepared to respond to unexpected changes in fire activity if needed.

In addition to the challenges of the Sourdough Fire, a new small fire, suspected to be a holdover from previous lightning activity, was detected near the top of a ridge just east of Newhalem. The fire was estimated at a tenth of an acre. Rapid response from aerial support, delivering six large water bucket drops, resulted in no residual heat detected, but monitoring will continue over the next few days.  

Today:  Cooler temperatures are expected to bring decreased fire activity again today. Aerial resources continue to be heavily utilized in close conjunction with ground personnel to fight the Sourdough Fire. Helicopters will monitor and dampen identified hotspots along the fire perimeter, especially in the Sourdough Creek drainage and along the Goodell burn scar. Crews continue mop-up operations to secure the fireline, monitoring for burning materials that fall onto State Route 20 from the above cliffs. Suppression repair efforts will continue in areas where the fire perimeter has been secured.

Weather: A Red Flag Warning remains in effect until 11:00 pm tonight due to hot, dry, and unstable conditions, similar to yesterday. The easterly winds are expected to last until tomorrow morning.

Safety: Fire danger remains extremely high. The public can help prevent the next wildland fire by observing outdoor burning bans and avoiding other common ignition causes.

Smoke: Due to persistent easterly winds, thicker smoke is expected in communities to the west through Monday.  Information about current conditions and a smoke forecast is located at: https://wasmoke.blogspot.com.

For information on how you can prepare for wildfire smoke, go to: https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/wildfires/smoke.html and https://www.wildlandfiresmoke.net/smoke-ready

Closures and Evacuations: State Route 20 is closed between milepost 120 (Newhalem) and milepost 171 (Silver Star Campground). Trail, area and camp closures are in effect; for more information, go to: https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/fire-closures.htm

Thompson Ridge Fire Update
Sunday, August, 20, 2023​

FIRE SITUATION

With a few days of strong work through difficult conditions, the firefighters on the Thompson Ridge Fire have achieved 85% containment. Management of the fire will be turned over to the local unit Tuesday morning. 

Humid conditions remained in the region with sporadic rain continuing to fall on the fire. During the day, crews were able to seek out remaining heat sources around much of the perimeter. The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) assisted firefighters in this process by identifying the heat sources so crews could mop up any hot spots that threatened the line. The UAS was then released after reconnaissance flights were completed to detect these heat signatures. Fire behavior is expected to be minimal. 

With the current weather, increased and near-record wet fuel moistures, and high humidity, there is little threat to the fire perimeter. Firefighters will continue to work the remaining uncontained portions of the fire’s edge and monitor and patrol the fire area. Potential for growth is low, but fire managers want to ensure as much containment as possible during this period of moderate fire behavior. 

As storms continue to impact the area, firefighters are pulled from the fireline as needed to avoid any injury and minimize danger from flooding. The predicted rain will continue to impact suppression efforts, as it creates unsafe conditions to work in. Firefighter safety remains the number one priority.

CLOSURES 

Please refer to closure order at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/fishlake/alerts-notices. Use caution in these areas, with the influx of ground and aviation equipment working in the area.

STATUS

Start Date: August 4, 2023

Incident Type: Wildfire

Size: 7,253 acres

Cause: Lightning

Containment: 85%

Location: 10 miles southeast of Beaver, Utah

Terrain: Steep, rugged terrain in remote areas transitioning to rolling pinyon juniper hills

Structures Threatened: None

RESOURCES

Engines: 9

Water Tenders: 1

Crews: 1

Helicopters: 5

Dozers: 1

Total Personnel: 237

Today the Great Basin Type 2 Incident Management Team takes command of the East fire after spending the previous day gaining knowledge and working alongside local fire managers and the current incident commander. The plan of utilizing the East Mountain summit as an anchor point has been successful and crews are fully engaged in continuing to improve the handline along the fire’s western edge. If the weather cooperates today, firefighters will work on line construction of the western edge toward the East Fork of Clear Creek. The containment is still showing 0 percent contained until more work by hand crews such as falling snags and mopping up along the containment line is complete.

Firefighters are also hard at work thinning and reducing fuels along Forest Road 405 and working to contain the fires northern edge by utilizing the roads and trails in the area. Work on the southern portion of the fire includes a crew thinning trees and brush on the ridgeline south of the East Mountain summit and utilizing the 099 East Mountain trail as a containment.

Values threated include the East Mountain communications infrastructure, timber sales, trail systems, and private timber lands.

Weather: There is a chance of showers and possibly thunderstorms after noon. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Highs will be near 62 degrees and 5 to 10 mph winds are expected, becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch are possible.

Closure Area: In place for public safety and details including a map can be found on the East Fire InciWeb page.
Air Quality: http://idsmoke.blogspot.com/
Web: https://www.fs.usda.gov/boise/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoiseNationalForest

Crews Utilize Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics to Continue to Suppress The Black Feather Fire 

Update: Sunday, August 20, 2023
 

Acres: 2,198 acres 

Start Date: August 5, 2023 

Cause: Lightning  

Fuels: Timber, Brush, Understory 

Containment: 28% 

Resources: 155 personnel 

Location: Approximately 9 miles south of Gallina, NM, on the Santa Fe National Forest, Coyote Ranger District. Near the Peñas Negras Trail in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness.   

Highlights: Crews continued their work on the Black Feather Fire, with hotshot crews accessing areas in the wilderness and identifying and utilizing available suppression options as they become available. Firefighters on the eastern edge of the fire, just outside of the wilderness, worked on suppression repair, where chipping and road improvement operations are nearly complete.  

Operations: Today, suppression efforts, as well as suppression repair, will continue. Areas identified as safe for firefighters to work, with active fire behavior or containment line opportunities, will be prioritized in the wilderness as fire managers utilize Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST) to effectively meet suppression and resource objectives with the least environmental, cultural, and social impacts possible. Incident objectives remain focused on firefighter safety while protecting property, infrastructure, and other values at risk, including timber and watershed.  

Safety: Equipment and fire crews are actively moving in and around the fire area. Please continue to stay away from the locations impacted by the fire. The Temporary Flight Restriction is still in place. Please do not fly drones anywhere near the fire. If you fly, we can’t fly. 

Weather: Winds out of the south to southeast are expected, with strong gusts possible in the afternoon. Moderate humidity recovery with improvement into Monday, when chances for precipitation will increase slightly and continue to trend up on Tuesday.  

Restrictions/Closures: The Santa Fe National Forest has issued an area, road, and trail closure in part of the Coyote Ranger District. See  https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/santafe/alerts-notices/?aid=82412 for information and a corresponding map. Forest Road 103 is closed to non-residential traffic. Closures will be adjusted based on fire activity.   

Smoke: Variations in temperatures and humidity will impact smoke conditions in the coming days and weeks. Smoke may be more and less visible in the area as active smoldering takes place. Smoke-sensitive individuals and people with respiratory problems or heart disease are encouraged to take precautionary measures. Air quality information is available at https://www.airnow.gov/ 

Evacuations:  The communities of Mesa Pinabetal, Mesa Poleo, and Wetherill remain in ‘Ready’ status. The Coyote Senior Center is open to evacuees, and livestock can be taken to the Rio Arriba Rural Event Center near Abiquiu. The Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office will coordinate evacuations if they go into effect. For more information, use the QR code below and visit the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079688263048.  

Fire Information: 505-460-0499 – 2023.blackfeather@firenet.gov  

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

New Mexico Fire Information: https://nmfireinfo.com/

Update: Saturday, August 19, 2023, Work Continues on The Black Feather Fire  

Acres: 2,198 acres 

Start Date: August 5, 2023 

Cause: Lightning  

Fuels: Timber, Brush, Understory 

Containment: 28% 

Resources: 155 personnel 

Location: Approximately 9 miles south of Gallina, NM, on the Santa Fe National Forest, Coyote Ranger District. Near the Peñas Negras Trail in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness.   

Highlights: Moderate fire behavior and intermittent rain showers have allowed the Incident Management Team to enhance their long-term response and protection plan for the area of the Black Feather Fire. Crews on the eastern edge of the fire, just outside of the wilderness, have been working on suppression repair, chipping and hauling out heavy fuels, and improving local roads. Hotshot and hand crews around the fire continue to patrol and scout the area for hot spots and additional opportunities for suppression.  

Operations: Today, fire managers are taking advantage of favorable weather conditions to scout and identify options for additional fire containment in the wilderness. Planning will focus on utilizing Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST) to effectively meet suppression and resource objectives with the least environmental, cultural, and social impacts possible. Incident objectives remain focused on firefighter safety while protecting property, infrastructure, and other values at risk, including timber and watershed.  

Safety: Large pieces of equipment are in use, and fire crews are actively moving in around the fire area. Please continue to stay away from the areas impacted by the fire.  The Temporary Flight Restriction is still in place. Please do not fly drones anywhere near the fire. If you fly, we can’t fly. 

Weather: Weather will be drier and mostly sunny today, with temperatures in the upper 70s. North winds at 10 to 15 miles per hour with afternoon gusts are expected. Rain showers are expected to return early next week with higher humidity and slightly cooler temperatures.   

Restrictions/Closures: The Santa Fe National Forest has issued an area, road, and trail closure in part of the Coyote Ranger District. See https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/santafe/alerts-notices/?aid=82412  for information and a corresponding map. Forest Road 103 is closed to non-residential traffic. Closures will be adjusted based on fire activity.   

Smoke: Variations in temperatures and humidity will impact smoke conditions in the coming days and weeks. Smoke may be more and less visible in the area as active smoldering takes place. Smoke-sensitive individuals and people with respiratory problems or heart disease are encouraged to take precautionary measures. Air quality information is available at https://www.airnow.gov/  

Evacuations:  The communities of Mesa Pinabetal, Mesa Poleo, and Wetherill remain in ‘Ready’ status. The Coyote Senior Center is open to evacuees, and livestock can be taken to the Rio Arriba Rural Event Center near Abiquiu. The Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office will coordinate evacuations if they go into effect. For more information, use the QR code below and visit the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079688263048 

Fire Information: 505-460-0499 – 2023.blackfeather@firenet.gov  

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

New Mexico Fire Information: https://nmfireinfo.com/

River Road East Fire

Fact Sheet

August 19, 2023 at 11:00am

Fire Information: 406-345-5972 2023.riverroadeast@firenet.gov

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550604712286

Location: 6 miles east of Plains, Montana

Start Date: 8/18/2023 Cause: Unknown Size: 11,951 acres Containment: 0%

KEY MESSAGES

-The cause of this fire is currently unknown and under investigation.

-Highway 200 has been reopened as of 2:00 am on 8/19/23. Areas along the highway have been impacted by the fire so drivers are asked to drive carefully and to not stop along the highway for the safety of firefighters and the public.

-Yesterday, the red flag high wind speeds made it not safe for aircraft to fly for fire suppression.

EVACUATIONS AND CLOSURES

For Evacuation updates please visit the Sanders County Sheriff's Office Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064593409765

The Montana Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Church on the Move, 300 Clayton St., in Plains, MT for displaced residents. All Red Cross services are free. Evacuated livestock can go to the Fairgrounds.

River Road East is Closed to public travel to allow firefighters to safely work on the fire.

CURRENT STATUS

The fire was extremely active yesterday afternoon and into the evening driven by dry conditions and high winds. The fire has burned both south and north of Highway 200 and the Clark Fork River near Paradise Montana. Fire crews focused on public safety and point protection of structures where safe to do so yesterday and continued working through last night. Both a Structure Protection Group and a Night Shift have been staffed and will be working on the fire. Additional fire personnel have been ordered and will be arriving. A local Type 3 Incident Commander is currently in command of the fire until 1800 today.

PLANNED ACTIONS

Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team 1 will take command of the fire at 6:00pm on 8/19/23 to support the land management agencies. Team 1 members have been arriving to provide additional support and to manage the additional equipment and personnel that have been ordered for this fire. Two branches of the fire have been established and operations personnel from the team are already in place on the fire. The priority for fire crews remains structure protection and fire suppression where personnel have the best opportunity for success. Low level smoke conditions might limit the ability for fire aircraft to fly today due to safety concerns. The fire has spread to the north and onto Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe lands so the team is also in contact with CSKT representatives.

WEATHER

The weather will be partly cloudy with areas of smoke and haze. Temperatures will range from 78 to 88 degrees in the valleys. Relative humidity levels will be as low as 10 to 20%. Winds will be from the southwest and then shifting to the west at 5-15 mph.

River Road East Fire Public Meeting

Sunday, August 20, 2023

3:00 to 4:00pm

Plains High School Gym

412 Rittenour Street

Plains, Montana

Fire personnel, agency representatives, and local officials will be present to provide brief updates and be available for questions.

The meeting will be held in-person and we intend to livestream on this Facebook page if internet strength allows. We will record the meeting and post it later if the livestream doesn't work well.

Bear Creek Fire              

August 19, 2023

Bear Creek Fire start date: 

August 1, 2023

Location:  23 miles Northwest of Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Cause:  Lightning

Incident Commander: Jay Kurth

Management Team: NIMO Team 1

Management:  Suppression

Fire size today: 415 acres

Containment:  0%

Completion: 64%   

Personnel:  63

Evacuation Information: Weminuche Valley is under pre-evacuation notice. Local residents should follow incident information and updates.

Closures:

• Cloman Park in Pagosa Springs
• https://tinyurl.com/trails-and-roads

Latest Smoke Outlook:

outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook/933fc4e4 

INCIDENT OBJECTIVES:

• Firefighter and Public safety are the highest priority.
• Protect private lands within the Weminuche Creek drainage, natural resources, cultural and historic sites, recreation assets and critical infrastructure including powerlines and gas utility lines.

A Multi-Mission Aircraft flight to identify hot spots throughout the Bear Creek Fire was completed Friday morning. There were no concentrated pockets of heat partially due to the rainfall Thursday night.

Bear Creek Wildfire: Indirect control lines are being utilized to accomplish multiple objectives of full control in accessible parts of the fire and confinement in areas that are remote and/or present high safety risks to firefighters. Overall, 64% of these objectives have been completed.

Firefighters have been unable to directly engage the fire for safety and logistical reasons. The clearing of vegetation along the Weminuche Trail and mastication of vegetation along the Mosca Road to develop indirect control lines continued.

Mosca Wildfire: 100% containment on this full control suppression strategy fire was achieved on Thursday.

YESTERDAY’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Fire managers continued to use two masticators on the Mosca Road to the south of the fire to reduce fuels and to create an indirect contingency line, completing about 0.3 miles/day.
• Crews in the Weminuche Valley area developed and implemented structure protection plans.
• Completed prep along the Weminuche Trail located above the north edge of the private land all the way to Poison Park and to the Wilderness boundary.
• Ground truthing potential indirect fireline locations along the surrounding creeks and trails; developing plans in the event they are needed.
• Pike hotshots completed their work on the contained Mosca fire. They were transported by helicopter to the Incident Command Post (ICP).

TODAY’S PLAN:

• Continue fuels mitigation along the Mosca Road corridor with masticators.
• Operational supervisors will continue scouting indirect control opportunities to the south along the Mosca Road, with the intent of connecting them into the Weminuche Valley.
• Continue structure protection.
• Monitor fire behavior.

WEATHER:

Today will be drier with a 20% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Temperatures could reach into the low 80’s. Winds will increase throughout the day and will increase with thunderstorms.

Incident Information: https://tinyurl.com/mrx4pp27

Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/mr2tpj69

Email :  2023.bearcreek@firenet.gov       

Information Line : 970-426-5370