Welcome rain eases threat from SW Oregon wildfire

(Update: Rain eases threat, task force call-up canceled)

Welcome rain on a new, threatening fire in southwest Oregon means a calling off of outside resources that were about to be deployed under the state Conflagration Act, the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office said Wednesday.

The OSFM received a conflagration request for the Flounce Fire in Jackson County near Prospect Tuesday afternoon. The OSFM Blue Incident Management Team was activated for a response planned for early Wednesday morning, along with three task forces.

After the conflagration was declared, a front moved in and brought an unexpected and significant amount of rain, officials said. Based on that, all local structural resources were pulled off the fire line and the request to the OSFM for resources was revoked. Blue Team and the task forces stood down.

The OSFM staff, incident management teams, and available structural resources stand ready to respond should the situation change, officials said.

Governor Kate Brown had issued the requested conflagration declaration, which cleared the way for the state fire marshal to mobilize firefighters and equipment to assist local resources battling the fire.

As of late Tuesday, there were about 50 homes on evacuation Level 1 – “Get Ready.” These residents are north of Lost Creek Reservoir. The fire was about 600 acres, according to its InciWeb page, which has the latest details.

Oregon’s conflagration may be invoked only by the Governor and allows the State Fire Marshal to dispatch structural firefighters and equipment. More information on Conflagration and Emergency Mobilization is available at OSFM website:
http://www.oregon.gov/OSP/SFM/2008_Oregon_Fire_Service_Mobilization_Plan.shtml.

Additional resources on surviving wildfires may be accessed at:
Wildfire…Evacuation Readiness http://egov.oregon.gov/OSP/SFM/docs/Comm_Ed/WUI/wildfire_evac.doc
After the Wildfire… http://egov.oregon.gov/OSP/SFM/docs/Comm_Ed/WUI/After_a_wildfire.doc