Oregon National Guard to help fight SW Oregon fire

A total of 147 members of the Oregon National Guard and Air National Guard are preparing to travel to the Graves Creek Fire, part of the Garner Complex in southwest Oregon, to assist in firefighting efforts.

The Oregon National Guard and Air National Guard members will head out later in the week. They have already been trained, thanks to federal funding through Oregon’s congressional delegation.

“Our Oregon National Guardsmen consider it an honor to serve their state in its time of need and assist our partners in fighting wildfires,” said Chris Ingersoll, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard.

Gov. Kate Brown’s Proclamation of State of Emergency Due to Imminent Threat of Wildfire paved the way for the National Guard to proactively make members available to help in this already-extreme fire season.

“We appreciate the Oregon National Guard and Gov. Brown for this much-needed added capacity. Our long-standing partnership has, once again, proven its value at a time of high demand for firefighting resources in Oregon and nationally,” said Nancy Hirsch, deputy state forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

As of Tuesday, the Garner Complex of fires had burned nearly 9,000 acres and was 65 percent contained, according to the fire’s InciWeb page.

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Here’s Tuesday’s update on the Long Hollow Fire:

Long Hollow Fire: 33,451 acres Containment: 75% Reported: July 26, 4:44 P.M. Cause: Human

Dufur, Oregon – The fire did not grow on Monday while, firefighters continued to improve fire perimeter lines, and air operations provided support to the fire. A helicopter was used to drop buckets of water on a flare up within the fire perimeter. Reduction in fire acres is due to more refined mapping on the northern edge of the fire.

Temperatures Tuesday are forecasted to be a bit cooler, from 96 to 101 degrees, and humidity in the range of 14 to 19%. Wind will be 8 to 13 mph, with gusts of 15 to 20 mph. Red Flag warnings will be in effect from noon on Tuesday until 10 pm Wednesday. Smoke will continue to be visible in surrounding communities from fires within Oregon and adjacent states.

On Tuesday, firefighters will continue to patrol, hold and improve existing hand and dozer line along all divisions of the fire. Fire personnel continue to be released as the fire activity decreases.

The Northwest Incident Management Team #10 will transition management of the fire to local firefighting resources under the leadership of Mike Moss, at 6:00 am on Wednesday. A local 20 person hand crew currently working on the fire will remain. Personnel will be located at Grass Valley. Additional resources will continue to be available if needed.

The Deschutes River is open for recreational activities. The Deschutes River access road and Highway 216 are open. The Deschutes River evacuation level in Segment 3 (Buckhollow to Mack’s Canyon) was lifted Monday July 30th.

Fire personnel will still be using routes along the river and Highway 216. Use caution traveling in these areas. Roads are narrow and winding and will have increased traffic from the fire activity.

Visitors, as well as locals, should always be aware of potential hazards when moving through recently burned areas. Burned area hillsides can become unstable due to loss of vegetation. As summer progresses, raising temperatures and drying grass, brush and trees, we ask the community and visitors to stay particularly vigilant in being fire safe.

Local, state and federal partners will participate in a Post Fire Resources Open House to connect fire impacted families and communities with relevant federal, state and local programs and information.

Meeting date and location:

Tuesday, July 31, 4pm – 7pm, Sherman County School, 65912 High School Loop, Moro, OR

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Here’s Tuesday’s update on the Timber Crater 6 Fire:

Crater Lake National Park, OR – The Timber Crater 6 Fire remains at 3,126 acres, is 80% contained, and is staffed with 352 personnel. The eastern portion of the fire is in patrol status. Crews on the southern boundary continue to mop up farther into the interior to complete the remaining 20% of open line. Single tree torching was observed in the interior of the fire area. Heavy fuels in the interior will continue to smolder and burn, putting up occasional smoke. This will continue until a season ending weather event, such as a heavy rain or blanketing snow extinguishes the last of the heavy fuels.

Helitack firefighters carefully gridded the Timber Crater 9 Fire and finding no heat, declared it out. All remaining equipment and supplies were back hauled. The Timber Crater 9 Fire will no longer be listed in daily reports and will not be included in mapping.

The Timber Crater 10 Fire stands at 193 acres and is 20% contained. Yesterday fire crews completed constructing containment lines. Pumpkins, 1,500-gallon round orange water tanks were deployed along with gas-powered pumps to charge the more than 2 miles of hose lines firefighters ran to provide water on the fire line. For areas beyond the hoses’ reach, bladder bags are being used to cool hot spots. A bladder bag is a backpack a firefighter carries that holds five gallons of water and weighs 45 pounds. It has a short hose with a pump nozzle. As mop up continues crews are moving smoldering logs into the interior of the fire so that they can be safely consumed without threatening containment. These stacks of heavy fuels are called bone piles.

Chipping operations along forest roads will be complete today. Branches and small trees that had to be cut to improve fire lines are being chipped into biodegradable mulch and dispersed over the area. The road repair group will also complete their work on Forest Road 70 today. Graders and water tenders have only 2 ½ miles of road remaining to be treated.

Today temperatures will be cooler with a high of 84°. Winds will be from the west at 10 miles per hour, with gusts to 15 mph. Relative humidity should range from 25 to 40 percent. No wetting rain is forecast, but cooler temperatures and higher humidity will reduce fire activity and help firefighters to make progress on mop up.

Smoke will be present in the park for most of the day with potentially hazardous levels in the late afternoon and early evening. . For more information about smoke conditions from air monitoring sites, visit http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/. For hourly updates visit https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl. Smoke monitor #19 is located at Diamond Lake and smoke monitor #20 is located at park headquarters. More information is also available at https://tools.airfire.org/outlooks/CraterLakeArea.

Follow Us: at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5986/, Crater Lake National Park and Fremont-Winema National Forest on Facebook, and swojic.blogspot.com.