News Release from Oregon Dept. of Forestry
Posted on FlashAlert: August 22nd, 2015 4:32 PM
CONTACT
Fire Information Duty Officers: Jeri Chase, 503-945-7201 (office) or 503-931-2721 (Cell), and Rod Nichols, 503-945-7425 (office) or 503-508-0574 (Cell)
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY (ODF) FIRE UPDATE – SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015
This is a summary update; actual fire updates and other fire-related information is posted to the ODF Wildfire Blog. You can also find ODF on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and stories from the front lines.
In the massive, multi-agency effort to corral dozens of wildfires burning across the state, the work of Oregon’s private forest owners and operators often gets overlooked. When large fires do occur, forest landowners figure as a major player in the suppression actions.
ODF’s Astoria District Forester, Dan Goody, notes that forest owners in his area put a lot of thought into planning and preparing for fires prior to fire season, and now are dropping what they are doing and rushing to the scene to help when fires break out.
Forest landowners bring a lot of know-how and hardware to the job, being intimately familiar with the terrain, road systems, and other information crucial to a firefighting operation. And when the West Oregon District called on them for help, they even brought heavy equipment to fill in for ODF fire engines and other gear that had been dispatched to fight existing fires. For example, when the recent Willamina Creek Fire started on August 19, Starker Forests placed their engines at the offices in Dallas and Philomath to back up ODF.
Starker and other forestry companies have been fully engaged in assisting ODF throughout the state during this severe fire season. While the industry has routinely responded to firefighting needs “for more than a century,” the 2015 response has been remarkable. When the Oregon Forest Industries Council put a call out for assistance on August 15 to landowners and operators, citing the extreme fire conditions and the shortage of resources, including an appeal for “trained personnel and equipment, capable of assisting in suppression actions, to make their availability known” to their local ODF or fire protective association office, Oregon’s forest industry quickly stepped up to fill specialized fire team positions, along with supplying an array of equipment.
Goody says the system has worked really well – a fully coordinated statewide system on steroids. He adds that given the scarcity of resources across the state, he does not think the overall response could have been so strong without this assistance from Oregon’s forest landowners and operators.
FIRE FACTS
ODF North Cascade District – Santiam Unit
Kinney Creek Fire | 8/20/15 | 1.6 miles west of Detroit (across Detroit Dam) |12 acres | 85% contained |Under investigation | Local ODF unit assisting USFS – Willamette NF due to threat to ODF-protected lands |
More Information: 503-569-2200 | www.fs.usda.gov/willamette | www.twitter.com/willametteNF |
ODF West Oregon District – Dallas Unit
Willamina Creek Fire | 8/19/15 | 9 miles north of Willamina | 212 acres | 10% contained | 226 personnel | Under investigation | ODF Local IMT |
More Information: 503-934-8153 | http://wildfireoregondeptofforestry.blogspot.com | www.facebook.com/oregondepartmentofforestry | www.twitter.com/ORDeptForestry |
ODF Central Oregon District – The Dalles Unit
Wamic Grade Fire | 8/20/15 | 7 miles northwest of Maupin | 100+ acres | Mop-up | Human-caused | Local ODF Unit; USFS assisting |
More Information: 541-296-4626 | www.twitter.com/odf_cod |
ODF Central Oregon District – John Day Unit
Jerry’s Draw Fire | 5 miles north of Prairie City | 248 acres | 0% contained | In mop-up | Under investigation | Added as a branch to Canyon Creek Complex; this is the FINAL SEPARATE REPORT |
More Information: Joint Information Center: 541-820-3643 or 541-820-3633 | www.twitter.com/odf_cod |
Canyon Creek Complex | 8/12/15 | one mile south of John Day and Canyon City | 61,792 acres | 17% contained | 902 personnel | Lightning | Great Basin IMT 1 (IC Lund) / Oregon State Fire Marshal Red Team (IC Walker) |
More Information: Joint Information Center: 541-820-3643 or 541-820-3633 | http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4495/ | www.facebook.com/CanyonCreekFireOregon | www.twitter.com/canyoncreekfire | #canyoncreekcomplex |
ODF Northeast Oregon District – Wallowa Unit
Grizzly Bear Complex | 8/13/15 | 20 miles SE of Dayton WA – Wenaha-Tucannon Wildernes, south and east | 59,364 acres | 0% contained | 262 personnel | Lightning | WA IMT 4 (IC Gales) / OSFM Green Team (IC Kunze)
More Information: 541-612-0059 | http://inciweb.nwcg.giv/incident/4511 | http://bluemountainfireinfo.blogspot.com/
ODF Northeast Oregon District – Baker Sub-Unit
Eldorado Fire | 8/14/15 | 5 miles southeast of Unity | 20,611 acres |55% contained |450 personnel | Under investigation |ODF IMT 3 (IC Smith) |
More information: Baker County, Oregon Joint Information Center (JIC): 541-523-2905 | http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4502/ | www.facebook.com/ElDoradoFire2015 | eldoradofire2015@gmail.com |#EldoradoFire |
Cornet-Windy Ridge Complex | 8/10/15 | 10 miles east of Unity | 103,887 acres | 75% contained | 375 personnel | Lightning | Southwest IMT (IC Ruggiero)
More Information: Baker County, Oregon Joint Information Center: 541-523-2905 | http://inciweb/nwcg.gov/incident/4478/ | www.facebook.com/CornetFire | bakerjointinfo@gmail.com |
Eagle Complex | 8/10/15 | 16 miles northeast of Baker City | 5,539 acres |0% contained | 307 personnel | Lightning | Rocky Mountain Black IMT (IC Greer).
More information: Baker City Joint Information Center (JIC): (541) 523-2905 | http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4481/ | www.facebook.com/pages/Rocky-Mountain-Area-Incident-Management-Team-Black/341078999367545 | bakerjointinfo@gmail.com |
Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA)
Stouts Fire |7/30/15 | 11 miles east of Canyonville near Milo | 26,208 acres | 82% contained | 764 personnel | Human | ODF IMT 2 (IC Cline) / U.S. Forest Service (IC Mike Wilde) |
More information: Phone: 541-825-3724 | http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4426/ | www.facebook.com/StoutsFire www://twitter.com/StoutsFire | #StoutsFire |
Cable Crossing Fire | 7/28/15 | 6 miles east of Glide | 1,857 acres | 90% contained | 50 personnel | Under investigation | DFPA
More information: Phone: 541-817-7186 | http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4424/ | www.facebook.com/DouglasForestProtectiveAssociation ||www.twitter.com/DouglasFPA
OTHER FIRE INFORMATION
For information on wildfires on all jurisdictions in Oregon, view:
* the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center website, or
* the national Incident Information System site.
Online and social media resources:
* department’s web site
* department’s blog for news on wildfires statewide and provides current fire statistics.
* Southwest Oregon District blog with district specific wildfire info, and follow the Twitter feed covering fires as they occur.
* Douglas Forest Protective Association website, Facebook Page and Twitter feed.
* Blue Mountain Interagency Wildfire blog for news on wildfires in the Blue Mountains (northeast Oregon)
* ODF Forest Grove District’s Fire blog with district-specific wildfire information
* ODF Central Oregon District’s Twitter feed
* Keep Oregon Green website, Facebook page and Twitter feed
OTHER INFORMATION
* ODOT Tripcheck
* Evacuation – Ready, Set, Go!
* Wildfire Smoke
FIRE STATISTICS
Fire statistics can be accessed from the ODF Wildfire Blog and the ODF website. When personnel are heavily engaged in firefighting activities, the latest information may not always appear in the statistics.
ABOUT THIS UPDATE
This update provides information primarily about fires on Oregon Department of Forestry-protected lands involving fires 10 acres or larger. ODF provides fire protection primarily on private and state-owned forestland, and Bureau of Land Management forestlands west of the Cascades, and also works closely with partner firefighting agencies.
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