Fire in Mt. Jefferson Wilderness grows to 80 acres

Dry fuels, afternoon winds and continued hot weather have caused the Whitewater Fire to burn another 30 acres in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, growing to an estimated 80 acres, Willamette National Forest officials said Wednesday.

Fire managers also said they have determined the cause of the blaze to be a month-old lightning strike. Containment was estimated at 15 percent.

The strategy to fight the fire remains the same as since it was discovered Sunday — put the fire out and protect wilderness values.

“Light touch” suppression techniques include crews digging line with hand tools and helicopters dousing the flames with water. While those techniques have been effective, they have not prevented the fire’s spread.

“Hand lines and water drops haven’t stopped the daily surge of fire activity we’ve been seeing each afternoon. We need to get water to the fire,” said Dave Johnson, incident commander.

Fire managers plan to use helicopters to fly in five pumps and thousands of feet of hose to get water to strengthen existing hand lines.

“This hose lay will enable us to cool down hot spots that ignite beyond our control lines,” Johnson said.

“Crews will wet down the vegetation next to our lines which will strengthen our lines so they can better withstand the afternoon spike of increased fire activity,” he added. “This means cutting fewer trees and minimize the impact of the fire suppression efforts.”

The “light touch” suppression effort aims to maintain wilderness values and minimize the long-term impacts of firefighting activities.

Resources as of Wednesday on the Whitewater Fire include:

Two 20-person Type 1 hand crews Three 20-person Type 2 Initial Attack hand crews Two heavy, one medium and one light helicopter About 120 people are engaged in the firefighting effort.

The previous trail closures remain in place. The closed trails are: (see attached map)

Whitewater Trail #3429 is closed from its origin to the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail #2000. Cheat Creek Trail #3441 is closed from its origin to the junction with the Triangulation Tr. #3373. Triangulation Trail #3373 is closed from its junction with trail #3374 (near Triangulation Peak) to the terminus at Whitewater Trail #3429. Crag Trail #3364 from its origin to the terminus at the Traingulation Trail #3373.

In addition, Forest Service Road 2243 (off of Highway 22) is closed just past the Cheat Creek Trailhead to avoid potential conflicts with fire traffic.

The trails and road will remain closed to protect public and fire fighter safety until further notice.

For updates, visit our website www.fs.usda.gov/willamette/ and follow on Twitter and Facebook @willamettenf

For more about Oregon’s major fires, including maps and photos, visit: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/38/