Good progress seen on Monty, Bean Creek wildfires, new blaze near Hole in the Ground
(Update: Friday night update: Bean Creek Fire at 175 acres; Hole in the Ground Fire at 310 acres
To the south, two new fires on Bly Mountain in Klamath County trigger evacuations
CULVER, Ore. (KTVZ) – Officials said firefighters made great progress on all wildfires in Central Oregon Friday, including the two on the Sisters Ranger District near Lake Billy Chinook and a new fire on the south end of the Deschutes National Forest called Hole in the Ground.
Friday morning, air tankers were available to support firefighting efforts on the Monty Fire, which remained in its footprint of 7-8 acres. The fire area has numerous overhead hazards and firefighters will continue to mitigate that risk while working to achieve containment, officials said in Friday night's update.
Forecast gusty winds challenged crews on the Bean Creek Fire, which grew to 175 acres. But after several large air tankers dropped retardant, crews on the ground were assisted by helicopters dropping water to cool hot spots while bulldozers constructed preliminary containment lines around 60% of the fire area.
Firefighters were set to work through the night on a burnout operation on the north end of the fire area to secure the perimeter. The Bean Creek Fire is now 10% contained.
A Level 1 evacuation notice (Get Ready) issued by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Officer remains in place for houses on Montgomery Shores on the Metolius Arm. The public is asked to stay out of the area. Monty Campground on the Sisters Ranger District remains closed.
Two new starts about 1 ½ miles northeast of Hole in the Ground on the south end of the Deschutes National Forest were quickly contained by firefighters, but a third in the same area grew quickly, prompting Lake County earlier to issue a Level 1 (Get Ready) notification for areas north of Highway 31 at Forest Road 2424.
The Hole in the Ground Fire (Incident 778) as of Friday night is estimated to be 310 acres and is 50% contained after multiple retardant drops by Single Engine Air Tankers (SEAT planes) and several Large Air Tankers (LATs) slowed the spread and allowed dozers to construct fire line and create a fire perimeter.
The excellent progress allowed Lake County to rescind the Level 1 evacuation notice Friday night, and firefighters will remain on scene to monitor fire activity before reengaging in suppression efforts in the morning.
The Monty Fire was staffed Friday with a Type 3 incident commander, three engine crews, a bulldozer and a water tender.
The Bean Creek Fire about a mile west of the Monty Fire, was staffed with two engines and a bulldozer, but access in the area remains a challenge due to the steep, rugged terrain.
Kassidy Kern, public information officer with the Central Oregon Fire Management Service, said 20-25 mph winds on Friday made the fires difficult to slow down.
"This is not the scenario that we wanted, with the weather conditions today,” Kern said.
Still, by Friday evening, bulldozers had built fire line around 60% of the Bean Creek Fire, working off the lines of retardant dropped by air tankers earlier in the day.
Thursday evening, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office initially issued a Level 3 evacuation at Monty Campground, on the lower Metolius River above Lake Billy Chinook. That was soon dropped to a Level 2 (Get Set) evacuation notice for the area.
As for the Hole in the Ground Fire, Kern said, "We are going to do everything that we can to put this fire out and get aggressive with it. We also need to make sure that we moderate expectations that it's going to happen immediately, because we have those persistent drought conditions and we have those hot and dry conditions -- and we really don't have the resources that we would have had a month ago."
Kern said with all the other fires in the Northwest, they don't have the resources they need to put all of these fires out quickly.
"We're going to be a little bit further down on the priority list.” Kern said. “That doesn't mean that we're not on the list, but we're going to focus those resources where they can do the most good and make sure we're protecting life, and then property."
She said residents in the Madras, Culver and Lake Billy Chinook area should be aware they are out and actively fighting the fires.
“We got a lot of calls yesterday reporting this -- and that's the Central Oregon public doing what they should be doing, making sure we are aware of these,” Kern said. “Whenever we can, we want to keep these fires small."
While Kern applauded those who have reached out, she says the best way to help is to follow all the fire safety rules currently in place.
"And help the firefighters by not creating one more human spark,” Kern said. We have enough that is on our plate from lightning caused starts that we have got to focus on eliminating human-caused starts."
For up-to-date information on Central Oregon fires, visit www.centraloregonfire.org or www.twitter.com/CentralORFire.
