Tuesday, September 29, 2020

 

The Virtual Public Meeting for the Slater Fire scheduled for tonight has been cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later time.

Slater and Devil Fires Update

Tuesday, September 29, 2020, 7:30 a.m.

Fire origin: September 8, 2020
South Zone Slater/Devil Fire Info (530) 324-2528; 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
North Zone Slater Fire Info (503) 867-8593; 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
General Fire Info - Wildland Info Center: (458) 206-3043; 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Media Information: (541) 249-5117; 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Summary
The Red Flag Warning ended yesterday at 8 p.m. The fire line held very well with no movement or growth reported.  With the high temperatures yesterday and forecasted through the rest of the week, fuels will continue to dry out.  Fire officials remind the public to use extra caution due to the extreme fire conditions.  Winds out of the south will blow smoke into the fire area today.

Public Meeting
Northern Rockies Team 2 Incident Management Team will hold a virtual public meeting tonight at 6 p.m. The meeting will be live streamed to help minimize the spread of COVID-19. Fire managers and representatives from the community will provide an update on the fire situation, evacuations and closures, and county services. The meeting will be on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/SlaterAndDevilFireInformation

Slater Fire: Crews will continue to hold and improve the line from the Oregon/California border on the west side of Highway 199 east to the Sucker Creek area. . Mop-up and direct line construction continue on the north end of the fire and crews continue to make great progress as increased humidity and natural barriers have slowed fire activity. In both the north and south, the primary work for firefighters is mop-up and patrolling to evaluate the fire edge as fuels continue to dry. The fire line continues to hold while interior pockets of unburned fuels will ignite as fuels dry.

Crews continue to dig control lines and make great progress as moisture from the recent rains and natural barriers have slowed the fire.

Today, Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office and remaining structural firefighting task forces demobilized.  Completion of structural protection coincided with decreased evacuation levels in Josephine County.   Structural firefighters deployed to the Slater Fire protected and triaged over 2,700 structures.

Devil Fire: Even with the Red Flag Warning yesterday, fire lookouts reported very little smoke from the Devil fire. Crews have made good progress on the fire and lines held along the fire edge.  Firefighters continue to build line along the southwest side.  Crews will continue mopping up hotspots, improving the line, and patrolling the fire’s edge. The south edge of the fire has been contained from the Pacific Crest Trail towards Fort Goff Creek.

Weather:  Temperatures in the valley are expected to be in the 90s this week although winds will become lighter. Relative humidity is expected to remain relatively low with very poor recovery through the night, creating conditions where any new fire start could spread rapidly. As fuels become available across the fire area, flanking, backing, and potential interior torching may be observed.

Evacuations
There was one change in evacuation levels for Josephine County yesterday.  Multiple levels of evacuations remain across the fire area. County Sheriffs continue to work with fire leadership to determine when to modify evacuation levels.

Josephine County information: 541-474-5305 or www.facebook.com/josephinecountyEM, www.co.josephine.or.us/fire, or www.rvem.org

Siskiyou County information: (530) 841-2900 or www.facebook.com/SiskiyouCountySheriff/

Del Norte County information: (707) 464-7213 or www.facebook.com/DelNorteOfficeOfEmergencyServices  and www.preparedelnorte.com/
 
Closures:  The USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region extended the Regional Order through September 30, 2020, temporarily closing nine national forests, including the Six Rivers and Klamath National Forests. The region is under emergency fire restrictions.  

Parts of both the Wild Rivers Ranger District and Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District reopened.  Some areas remain closed for emergency crews’ safety and to allow for fire suppression and burned area recovery.  Find updated closure orders and maps at: www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/rogue-siskiyou/alerts-notices

The Bureau of Land Management Medford District has public lands closures in effect near the Slater Fire and the South Obenchain Fire. Closure area maps are available at: www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/oregon-washington/fire-restrictions 




Printable version of today's update can be found here
Printable version of today's map can be found here 

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