Warm-up may bring more smoke on Grant County fire

This week will bring warmer, dryer weather conditions back to the John Day valley, and back to the Canyon Creek Complex Fire, raising the possibility of more fire and smoke on the horizon, Oregon Department of Forestry officials said Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, 562 firefighters were still on the 110,410-acre blaze, which is 85 percent contained. If all goes well, officials hope to declare full containment on Sept. 30.

Unburned vegetation and smoldering large fuels may begin to smoke more than they have in the past week when humidity was higher and temperatures were cooler, the agency said.

But it added that ODF fire managers are confident that fire lines adjacent to private lands are secure, and do not pose a risk to landowners.

The fire continues to burn on the eastern front, where Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team 4 is developing a strategy to contain the fire and minimize imp acts in the Slide Creek and Strawberry Creek drainages of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness.

ODF’s John Day Unit will continue to patrol, focusing on the private lands within the fire area. In addition to the normal fire engine patrols from the John Day Unit, the Central Oregon District has assigned a strike team of five engines from other ODF offices around the state to patrol and mop-up smokes or hot spots near the fire perimeter.

These engines and their strike team leader will also be involved in fire suppression repair activities.

While interior smoke will be visible until fall rains and cooler temperatures completely extinguish the fire, any active fire or smoke near the fire edge, or within the urban interface should be reported to the John Day Interagency Dispatch Center (541-575-1321), or 911.

The John Day Unit is still fully staffed for fire season with initial-attack resources including engines, Single Engine Air Tankers, a helitack crew, helicopters, and a reconnaissance plane.

The Central Oregon District remains in a regulated closure restricting activities with the potential to ignite fires. Campfires are prohibited on lands protected by ODF, including Oregon State Parks.

The campfire ban includes warming fires and cooking fires. Hunters are encouraged to be prepared for cooler temperatures as they go to the field so they will not be tempted to build a fire to stay warm. Additional restrictions are included in the closure which can be found on the Central Oregon District website: oregon.gov/odf/centraloregon.

Open burning such as burn barrels and debris burns within the Central Oregon District require a permit from ODF during fire season. Currently, no permits are being issued. Burning without a permit can result in citations or fines.

In addition to these restrictions, exploding targets, tracer ammunition, and sky lanterns are all prohibited during fire season.