June 9, 2015
Sixteen lightning-caused fires have been found and staffed on lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Southwest Oregon District. A dozen of the fires are on the Medford Unit and four on the Grants Pass Unit. Two of the fires were 1/2 acre in size and most of the others are 1/10th of an acre in size or smaller.
Firefighters and equipment are making their way into fires in the Jump Off Joe Creek area, north of Grants Pass; the Little Butte Creek area, east of White City; and in the Soda Mountain Wilderness, east of Ashland.
Three helicopters have been available to the firefighters for dropping water on hot spots. An airplane has also been flying all day, searching for smokes and assisting firefighters by providing fire location and access information.
June 9, 2015
Firefighting crews have made excellent progress suppressing the 12-acre Red Dog Fire, having created a strong containment line by late yesterday evening. A lightning-struck tree was identified as the cause of the fire. The fire is currently 50% contained and is expected to be fully contained at the end of shift this evening. Resources will continue to mop up the fire; if additional resources are needed for response to other priority incidents, crews may be reassigned. This includes the Rogue River Interagency Hotshot crew, the Winema Hotshots and a 20-person Grayback initial attack crew.
Last night, abundant dry lightning strikes occurred across SW Oregon with very little to no precipitation. In response, firefighting resources are pre-positioning for patrolling and response to new lightning-caused fire starts across the Rogue Rover-Siskiyou National Forest. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for abundant lightning activity through 11 p.m. tonight.
Increasing thunderstorm activity will create erratic fire behavior and new starts in Curry, Josephine, and Jackson Counties. Scattered thunderstorms this morning will start to diminish, then become scattered again this afternoon and evening. Gusty winds from 40-50 mph will be possible with the stronger thunderstorms. Some of the storms will produce moderate to heavy rainfall. Abundant lighting on existing very dry fuels could cause numerous fire ignitions. Gusty and erratic winds could also create explosive fire growth potential.
“We are aggressively pre-positioning our available firefighting resources for quick response to new fire starts,” said Dan Quinones, Deputy Fire Staff & Aviation Officer.
One new lightning-start has been detected on the Gold Beach Ranger District that is located on the border with Coos Forest Protection Lands. The new start is three miles SE of Three Tree Campground.
The Merlin Helibase has two medium helicopters, one rappel aircraft (John Day) and one helitack platform (Lakeview). Two fixed wing aircraft are available for aerial reconnaissance as of 0830 this morning. In addition, a heavy helicopter has been ordered from LaGrande.
In the Siskiyou Mountains, one engine is available for patrol and response. In addition, the Winema Hotshots are scheduled to be assigned to the area this afternoon after being released from the Red Dog Fire.
In the Prospect/Butte Falls area, in addition to the normal staffing of firefighting resources, a task force of engines and hand crews are pre-positioned for response. This includes 5 engines, one 20-person initial attack crew and several overhead leadership positions. Additional resources are being ordered.
In the Gold Beach area, a 15-person hand crew and engine is available for patrol/response, and in the Powers area, an engine and a prevention unit are also available, in addition to the increase air reconnaissance and air support that is being provided across the forest.
Firefighting resources will be moved and reassigned across the forest as new starts are detected and priorities change, utilizing information from lightning strike detection maps, aerial reconnaissance and smoke reports.
June 9, 2015
A widespread thunderstorm early this morning scattered lightning across Jackson and Josephine counties. ODF Medford Unit firefighters are working on five small fires in the Foots Creek and Galls Creek areas. The largest fire so far is 1/4-acre on Pikes Peak (T 37S, R 3W, Sec 6). ODF Grants Pass Unit engine crews are responding to reports of smoke in the Wards Creek, Cheney Creek, Birdseye Creek, Horesehead Creek and Fish Hatchery Road areas.
A reconnaissance flight is going aloft after 10:00 a.m. to detect other fires.
June 8, 2015
Power Equipment Use
Fire season in ODF’s Southwest Oregon District went into effect Friday, June 5, at which time open burning season ended. However, many people have called to find out about restrictions on power-driven machinery use (ie chain saws, mowers, brush cutters, etc.). At this time, there are no restrictions on the use of power equipment, so it is OK to use equipment to cut brush, grass and trees.
But it is a good idea to take some precautions when using power-driven equipment.
- Have water or a fire extinguisher and a shovel at your work site;
- Frequently check the area you’ve worked in to make sure a spark hasn’t kindled a small fire;
- Continue to check your work area for at least one hour after you’ve shut down the equipment;
- If you do accidentally cause a fire, call 9-1-1 to report the fire and then use your water and shovel to try and extinguish the fire.
Red Dog Fire
The Red Dog Fire (photo above) is located on the Wild Rivers Ranger District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in Josephine County. Fire activity is currently moderate, burning in brush, slash and timber in steep terrain. The fire is currently 10 acres in size, and started at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 6.
The Red Dog Fire is believed to be a lightning-caused start, possibly a “holdover” from a previous storm. A Type 3 Incident Commander (Aaron Schuh) has been assigned.
“Due to the unseasonably hot and dry conditions, coupled with low humidity, we quickly assigned local available firefighting resources,” said Deputy Fire & Aviation Staff Officer Rob Budge.
Resources on scene include the Rogue River Interagency Hotshots, the Winema Hotshots, a 5-person hand crew module, two 20-person initial attack contract crews, two Forest Service engines, and two helicopters. Firefighters have completed a “scratch line” around the fire and will continue to improve the line. Crews are optimistic the line will hold, although lightning is predicted on Tuesday.
The fire is located approximately five miles SW of Onion Mountain, one mile W of Horse Mountain and two miles E of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness boundary and 9 miles NW of Selma. Although there are mining claims in the area, no structures are threatened.
Due to the amount of fire traffic in the area, several road closures are anticipated to ensure firefighter and public safety.
Other Fire Activity in Southwest Oregon
A 7-acre fire broke out late Friday afternoon in the Abbott Prairie area (see photo), located 8 miles north of Lost Creek Reservoir. The fire is on private timberland and burned old logging slash. Today, a 10-man crew and two engines are mopping up remaining smokes. The cause is under investigation.
On Saturday, June 6, two fires caused by debris burning were extinguished in the Williams and Sunny Valley areas. The Williams-area fire burn 1/4 acre and the Sunny Valley-area fire burned 1/10th of an acre.
A structure fire near Rogue River on Sunday morning caused a 1/4-acre grass fire that was quickly extinguished. That same day, a 1 1/2-acre fire was extinguished along Pompadour Drive, east of Ashland. The cause of this fire in under investigation.
