Lightning-sparked fire near Marion Lake still half-contained
More hot weather and a lot of downed wood and snags from an old fire challenged firefighters Monday as they fought to contain a lightning-sparked, 120-acre fire near Marion Lake in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area.
About 100 firefighters worked late into Sunday evening fighting the Maion Fire. Officials said the containment estimate was expected to rise Monday as crews assisted by an air attack continue building fire line.
A Type III Incident Management team has assumed control of the fire.
According to Incident Commander Chad Calderwood, the difficult conditions firefighters are facing on the ground are making suppression efforts slow going.
“There is a lot of large, down wood and snags from a previous fire in the area.” said Calderwood. “Firefighters are taking it slow and keeping safety as their No. 1 priority. Luckily, fire activity is remaining moderate at this time.”
Fire crews identified a fresh lightning strike tree in the interior of the burn. Fire managers referenced a lightning activity map of the area and a positive strike was identified at the location of the tree. The official cause of the fire has been determined to be lightning.
Forest spokeswoman Joanie Schmidgall also said the fire at last report was still several miles away from a Boy Scout camp in the area.
An array of firefighting resources, including rapellers, two Hotshot crews, three hand crews,tree fallers and three large helicopters have been working in tandem to cool hot spots near the fire’s perimeter and construct hand line.
“We’re using ‘light on the land’ tactics to suppress this wilderness fire,” said Detroit District Ranger Grady McMahan. “The close proximity of Marion Lake has made it easy to do bucket drops and pump water directly to the fire, greatly moderating fire activity.”
Area and trail closures remain in effect for a portion of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The closure encompasses Marion Lake, the area west of Minto Pass Trail and Bowerman Lake Trail, north of Blue Lake and east of Turpentine Trail.
A complete list of the trails that are closed is included below. The Pacific Crest Trail #2000 and Turpentine Trail #3490 remain open.
Marion Lake #3436
Marion Outlet #3495
Blue Lake #3422 to the intersection with Bowerman Lake #3492
Bowerman Lake #3492
Minto Pass #3437
Lake of the Woods #3493 between Minto Pass Trail #3493 and Swallow Lake Trail #3488
Pine Ridge #3443 east of the intersection with Turpentine Trail #3490
Marion Mountain #3435
Temple Lake #3444
Officials say smoke from the fire may continue to be visible from the Bend area, as well as the west side of the Cascades this week.
Visitors are asked to use caution when traveling on state Highway 22 in the Marion Forks area due to increased fire traffic, and to respect temporary flight restriction that has been established around the fire.
The fire broke out Saturday in brush and timber near the lake, about five miles northwest of Three Fingered Jack. The initial plume was visible over much of Central Oregon, and the smoke was very visible west of the region until nightfall.
Bend resident Alden Lorimor said he was with a group camping at the lake Saturday that “went out for a swim and saw the smoke really starting to get big around noon.”
“We had backpacked in, so we packed up our camp and headed out,” Lorimor said in an e-mail, sharing a photo taken from the northwest side of the like when they were leaving around 2:30 p.m.
“This was taken when the first helicopter arrived to dump water on the fire,” he said.
Elsewhere on the Willamette forest, a small fire broke out Monday morning on a ridge just north of the northwest corner of the Middle Santiam Wilderness. Officials said crews aggressively attacked the fire with helicopters, rapellers and retardant planes since early morning.
The lightning-sparked fire was called by lookouts and was held at two acres. It was reported to be mostly creeping, with isolated individual tree torching Monday afternoon.
In north-central Oregon,, firefighters Saturday quickly stopped the Winslow Road Fire ,five miles southwest of Dufur, using two SEAT (Single Engine Air Tanker) planes. The fire was estimated at 10-12 acres in the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Central Oregon District.
The cause of that fire remained under investigation.
Also, crews on the nearly 27,000-acre Corner Creek Fire south of Dayville successfully completed about 250 acres of burnout operations just south of Black Canyon Wilderness over the weekend, which finalized the effort to establish a solid line around the blaze, started by lightning June 29.
Officials said favorable weather conditions assisted fire managers in completing this critical piece of ground just east of Mud Springs Campground, which will prevent the fire from moving northwest into more difficult terrain within the wilderness.
Light winds dispersed the smoke, instead of pushing a large column southward into the communities of Paulina or Burns.
The fire sits at about 29,657 acres and remains about 90 percent contained. Firefighting efforts will focus on patrolling and securing containment lines, mopping up and monitoring. The fire continues to burn internally, creeping and smoldering at a low to moderate intensity.
Command of the fire will transition to a local Type 4 team this week, and as of Thursday the incident command post at Dayville School will be demobilized. Fire camp just west of Dayville is also being demobilized.
A local Burned Area Emergency Response team has assembled and has begun working on an assessment of the burned area for immediate post-fire threats to human life, property, and natural resources.
The South Fork Road/County Road 42 reopened for public use last week, but an area closure remains in effect on the Ochoco National Forest, covering all National Forest lands west of Forest Service Road 5820.
