Good progress reported on new Warm Springs fire

Crews made good progress Sunday on the Nene Creek Fire that broke out over the weekend nearly 20 miles north of Warm Springs and has burned about 300 acres, officials said Monday.

Five hand crews, two bulldozers and two heavy helicopters were utilized to help hold the fire in check. Hand crews worked both flanks of the fire in an attempt to pinch it off at the head.

A dozer line was constructed along the northwest flank and some burnout operations were conducted.

Heavy helicopters were utilized along the eastern flank to keep the fire in check and
prevent it from crossing the creek bottom. Crews also established some
contingency lines further to the east.

The fire is still estimated at 300 acres.

Operations Monday will continue the same strategy of trying to hold the fire to the
western side of Nene Creek Crews will continue hand line construction and keep
improving contingency lines.

There are structures about three miles north of the fire, off the reservation. Air
resources will be used to assist in protecting the advancement of the fire toward
the structures.

Resources will also be borrowed from the Logging Unit Fires to assist on the Nene Creek Fire, officials said

The chance for isolated thunderstorms remained Monday. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 80s to low 90s, with winds out of the northeast at 3-6 mph. Relative humidity could drop to as low as 16 percent in the afternoon.

The potential for sleeper fires remains high. Warm Springs Agency still has one Type 3 helicopter available for reconnaissance and bucket work if needed. Initial attack on any new fires remains the priority.

The Logging Units Fire and Bear Butte 2 Fire are being managed by a Type 2 Incident Management Team (Williams) with information available at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3973/

Here’s Monday’s update on the 10,448-acre Logging Unit Fires:, which are 85 percent contained and still have over 650 personnel on the lines:

The mop-up work on the Logging Unit Fires continued to progress on Sunday, moving closer to the goal of eliminating all heat within 300 feet of the line in timber, and within 100 feet of the line in grass.

The planned strategy to set up sprinklers on Bear Butte 2 came a little closer to reality on Sunday as most of the heavy equipment finished its work. The sprinklers should be installed today, and will be supported by water tenders.

A firefighter collapsed on the Bear Butte 2 Fire on Sunday and was flown to St. Charles Hospital in Bend.

“This was no drill,” said Medical Unit Leader Glenn Fischer. “This incident occurred in an extremely remote area, and in short order a helicopter was requested, a landing zone was constructed, and our line medics were able to successfully hand the patient over to the Life Flight professionals.”

The patient was evaluated at the hospital and is recovering locally, officials said.

Crews from Maryland, Ohio and other far-away states were seen heading home Sunday as their 14-day assignments came to an end. The number of personnel has dropped from Sunday morning’s 940 to today’s 654 people.

Although fire officials reduced the size of the area closures on Sunday, the Pacific Crest Trail remains closed within the Warm Springs Reservation boundaries, from mile 2057.3 to mile 2082.2. Re-route information is available at www.pcta.org.