Cooldown, rainfall – even a bit of snow – raise hopes that C.O. fire danger will ease, evacuation levels can be reduced
Matthew Draxton is visiting the Three Rivers area for live reports at Four, Five
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A welcome, fortunate shift on Wednesday to rainy, cooler early fall weather – with a bit of snow at Mt. Bachelor and higher elevations – raised hopes across the High Desert and beyond Wednesday that the numerous large wildfires that have been growing frighteningly fast can be slowed or even stopped by beleaguered, stretched-thin fire crews.
Light rain was falling off and on over the Bend-Redmond area, with temperatures only in the 50s at mid-morning, while National Weather Center forecasters in Pendleton said we were “looking at a cool and wet day” across the region.
Nathan Goodrich, operations chief for Complex Incident Management Team PNW 3, said in a video posted to the Deschutes National Forest Facebook page said Tuesday was “a very active fire day on all flanks” of the Firestone and Flat Top fires near the Deschutes/Lake county border, also noting that the two fires are close to merging into one large blaze.
After a rough day on the Little Lava Fire, which crossed Forest Service Road 45 with a 300-acre “slop-over,” tackled by dozer crews overnight, Goodrich said they were looking forward to “much more subdued” conditions Wednesday. But he said the wider evacuation zones announced late Tuesday – including Level 2 “Be Set” for Sunriver, Three Rivers and nearby areas – are unlikely to change until greatly reduced fire behavior is seen.
That view was echoed by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which said in a Facebook post that they, too, “are looking forward to forecasts of more favorable weather,” including more typical fall temperatures in coming days, and that they will be updating the conditions Wednesday afternoon or evening.
DCSO urged residents to go to www.deschutes.org/emergency for current information and to www.deschutesalerts.org to register for emergency alerts or to update your profile.
The daily fire update broadcast on radios and scanner frequencies also pointed to the showers and higher humidities, crucial for firefighting efforts, but also noted that some “breezy conditions” and a slight chance of thunderstorms were in the forecast and could pose issues.
But a clear sign the fires were still burning was that even as the rain washed some smoke from the skies, air quality levels were still in the "unhealthy" or even "very unhealthy" readings, according to the E::SPACE map on our weather page late Wednesday morning. The Oregon DEQ on Wednesday kept its air quality advisory in place through Friday for Deschutes, Grant and Wheeler counties.
As for Mt. Bachelor, which closed Saturday and Sunday due to the nearby Backside Fire, the resort said earlier it hopes to reopen its late-summer operations on Thursday. But with evacuation levels still in place and much firefighting work in the area, they later announced the resort will remain closed at least through Thursday.
While we monitor and update with information released by officials, Matthew Draxton is visiting the Three Rivers area to see how much rain and a cooldown they've seen and how residents feel about the situation. His live reports are coming up on NewsChannel 21 Fox at Four and at Five on NBC.
