New joint fire mgmt. center in Prineville

The Central Oregon District of the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Central Oregon Fire Management Service said late Sunday they have opened a Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Prineville in response to the numerous wildfires currently burning in the area.

The Coordination Center will focus its attention on the following combination of wildfires:

1. The Bridge 99 Complex (Bridge 99 and Bear Butte 2 Fires) located on the Deschutes National Forest north of Sisters;

2. The Shaniko Fire, Logging Unit Fire, and the portion of the Bear Butte 2 Fire located on the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation;

3. The Waterman Complex (Bailey Butte, Toney Butte, and Junction Spring Fires) located on private land and the Ochoco National Forest west and north of Mitchell;

4. The Pine Creek Complex (Pine Creek, Jack Knife, Black Rock Fires and Donnybrook Fires) located on Prineville District of the Bureau of Land Management and private land south of Fossil and southeast of Grass Valley;

5. The Ochoco Complex (Oscar, Lava, Antelope, Broadway, and Fox Fires) located on the Ochoco National Forest and the Prineville District of the Bureau of Land Management near Big Summit Prairie southeast of Prineville;

6. The Sunflower Fire located on Umatilla National Forest and private land northwest on Monument; and

The principal functions and responsibilities of the Multi-Agency Coordination Center (will include the following:

Ensuring that each agency involved in wildfire incident management activities is providing appropriate situational awareness and resource status information; Establishing priorities between wildfire incidents in concert with Incident Commanders; Acquiring and allocating resources required by incident management personnel in concert with the priorities established by each Incident Commander; Anticipating and identifying future resource requirements; Coordinating and resolving policy issues arising from the wildfires; and Providing strategic coordination as required.

Operational management of on-the-ground fire suppression actions will remain under the control of the seven Incident Commanders.

The Central Oregon District of the Oregon Department of Forestry spans ten Oregon counties from Hood River to Burns and La Pine to Long Creek. The district has fire protection responsibility for 2.2 million acres of non-federal forest and range lands.

Central Oregon Fire Management Service area includes federal lands in the the Deschutes National Forest, the Ochoco National Forest, the Crooked River National Grassland, and the Prineville District of the Bureau of Land Management.

For information regarding Multi-Agency Coordination activities, contact Information Officer, David Morman, at 541-233-3215.

For information on the status of any of the wildfires being overseen by the Multi-agency Coordination Center, the public is encouraged to continue to use:

InciWeb (http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/38/)

Central Oregon Fire Information Blog (http://centralorfireinfo.blogspot.com/)

The Central Oregon Fire Information Line: (541) 416-6811

Or, the information phone numbers established for the complexes:

1. Bridge 99 Complex Fire Information: (541) 549-3219

2. Waterman Complex Fire Information: (541) 787-4321

3. Pine Creek Complex Fire Information: (541) 763-0917 / (541) 763-2067

4. Ochoco Complex Fire Information: (208) 741-9262

5. Sunflower Fire: (800) 923-6891

6. Logging Unit Fire and Bear Butte 2 Fire (tribal portion): (541) 690-6681

7. Shaniko Fire: (541) 553-8190