Chetco Bar Fire – West Zone (Curry County) 541- 469-1177

Bureau of Land Management

Coos Forest Protective Association

Rogue River-Siskiyou NF

Oregon Department of Forestry

PNW Team 3

Fire Update – September 9, 2017 9:00 a.m. (PDT) Weather and Fire Behavior: The recent rainfall and high humidity led to minimal fire activity, best described as creeping and smoldering with little perimeter movement. Later in the day on Thursday, temperatures were noticeably warmer, signaling the beginning of a warming and drying trend that is expected to continue through Monday. Smoke impacts today will vary from light to heavy in communities surrounding the Chetco Bar fire. Today, during the morning hours, there will be smoke and fog in some areas with clearing in the afternoon. Skies will be partly sunny, temperatures in the mid 60’s with 5-10 MPH winds from the northwest. As humidity levels begin to drop and temperatures begin to rise, vegetation will begin to dry out, leading to increasingly active fire behavior with surface spread, fire backing downhill and making flanking runs uphill. Fire could climb to the tops of trees (isolated torching) in areas where wetting rain did not occur. Yesterday: Clouds, smoke and fog hung over the fire area until late morning Friday. Weather allowed for further strengthening of containment lines while crews moved operations closer to the fire’s perimeter, building line directly along the fire’s edge where it was safe and effective to do so. This effort is intended to reduce potential impacts to nearby private lands. Crews patrolled existing spot fires and remained vigilant for evidence of new ignitions from lightning or spot fires that have not yet been detected.

Quick Facts Incident Summary

As the warming and drying trend continues, fire activity will increase on the south and southwest fire perimeter and crews are ready to make that transition. Crews will construct and remove brush from contingency firelines so that they can better hold when tested. Along the west side, firefighters will patrol for spot fires and continue to mop-up the existing spot fires. To the north, crews are re-establishing some of the previous Biscuit Fire dozer lines, in preparation for bringing fire down to containment lines in a deliberate fashion that would remove ground vegetation and add depth to improve effectiveness of those lines. Structure assessment for communities of Agness and Curry County Oak Flats continues.

182,244

Cause

Lightning July 12, 2017

Start Date Containment

5% 5 miles northeast of Brookings, Oregon

Location

Melvin Thornton, CFPA Incident Commanders

Noel Livingston, PNW Team 3 Brian Gales, NW13 (East Zone)

Great Basin Incident Management Team 1 arrived on Thursday to begin shadowing, or gathering information, from their counterparts on Pacific Northwest Team 3. The two teams will transfer command of the Curry County portion of Chetco Bar Fire on Sunday morning. Today: Crews have been on the offensive the last couple of days and will continue to take advantage the moderated fire behavior as long as it lasts by further strengthening containment lines, building more direct line and reducing the potential footprint of the fire.

Size

Crews: 33 Engines: 53 Helicopters: 7 Dozers: 20 Water Tenders: 6

Resources on the Fire

Total Personnel

1,350

Helpful Links Interactive Fire and Evacuation Map:

http://arcg.is/2vWQN2N Curry Alert (Reverse 911):

https://member.everbridge.net/index /892807736723773#/login Josephine County Alert (Reverse 911) http://www.co.josephine.or.us/alert

Air resources will support firefighting efforts as visibility and weather permit. Evacuations: Evacuations remain in Curry and Josephine County and will be evaluated daily. Residents are encouraged to monitor the interactive evacuation map for changes: http://arcg.is/2vWQN2N Shelters: The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation is operating a shelter at the Xaa-wan’-k’wvt Village & Resort (old Ship Ashore) RV Park located at 12370 Highway 101 North in Smith River. Closures: Several large wildfires are burning in southwest Oregon. Area closures have been implemented on the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and BLM lands. Fire restrictions are in place: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/5385/

Additional Chetco Bar Fire Information www.ChetcoBarFire.wordpress.com

Facebook: Chetco Bar Fire

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5385/