Slater and Devil Fires Update, Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Slater and Devil Fires Update
Wednesday, September 23, 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.
North Zone Email: Slaterfirenorth.information@gmail.com
South Zone Email: 2020.Slater@firenet.gov
Website: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7173/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SlaterAndDevilFireInformation

Summary
The Slater fire is 150,230 acres and 24 percent contained. The Devil fire is 7,784 acres and remains 18 percent contained. Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 2 assumed command of the entire Slater and Devil Fires (north and south zones) at 6 p.m. yesterday. Firefighters continue to make good progress holding and improving containment lines on both fires and most of the growth on the fire is due to backing and creeping. Critical fire weather is expected today with winds out of the southwest at 25 miles per hour with gusts to 40.

Slater Fire
North Zone: Crews continue to hold and improve existing containment lines. They are constructing new line, working close to the fire line to keep the fire from growing. Firefighters are also preparing structures to protect those building from potential fire spread.

Hand crews and dozers have been working west of Highway 199 to construct indirect control lines along Monkey Ridge. The two sides are expected to tie together today. Several hot shot crews will be used to complete burnout operations to clean up any unburned fuel between the line and the main edge of the fire when conditions allow.

Crews are mopping up and still holding the line on the north side of the fire from Goodwish Creek near Hwy 199 east to the Sun Star area and back north. Firefighters are working on several hotspots along the line around Hope Mountain and will continue to reinforce the line up toward Horseshoe Gulch.

Crews successfully completed a burnout south of Holland and will begin mopping up that area. Firefighters are reinforcing the line around Browntown and toward Oregon Caves National Monument. Hand crews continue to reinforce the line south of Oregon Caves to protect the monument.

South Zone: Mop up continues in and around the communities of Happy Camp and Indian Creek. Crews will continue with direct line construction north of Thompson Creek. When conditions allow, crews will complete burnout operations to remove unburned fuel between indirect containment lines and the main fire.

Devil Fire: Crews held the Devil Fire south of the 1040 Road. They continue to construct more line and establish hoselays along the north side of the fire to assist with mop up. Additional resources have been assigned to the fire to help construct line down the east side of the fire to tie in with contained line along the south side. Firefighters are stationed behind residences in Seiad to defend the fire line.

Weather: Fire operations will use lookouts today due to expected winds that could increase fire behavior. Winds will be out of the southwest at 25 miles per hour with gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Rain is expected to move into the area Wednesday night, followed by several days of cooler temperature and higher relative humidity.

Evacuations

Josephine County Sheriff’s Office downgraded evacuations to Level 2 “Be Set” for all residents on Wood Creek Rd andShepherd Hill Rd and issued a downgrade in evacuations to a Level 1 “Be Ready” for all residents in the following area; US Hwy 199 from milepost 34 to 36.5 including all of Lone Mountain Rd and secondary roads, O’Brien Rd, O’Brien St, Primrose Ln, Udee Rd and Waldo Rd from US Hwy 199 to and including Big Springs Drive.
All other evacuation levels remain the same. For more information, visit the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office website.Evacuation information is available at 541-474-5305 (8 a.m. – 8 p.m.) or: www.facebook.com/josephinecountyEM,www.co.josephine.or.us/fire, or www.rvem.org.

Siskiyou County evacuation information is available at (530) 841-2900 or online at: www.facebook.com/SiskiyouCountySheriff/.

Del Norte County evacuation information is available at (707) 464-7213 or online at:www.facebook.com/DelNorteOfficeOfEmergencyServices and www.preparedelnorte.com/.
Closures: The USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region has extended the Regional Order temporarily closing nine national forests in California, including the Six Rivers and Klamath (including the part in Oregon) National Forests. This decision will continue to be reviewed daily with changing fire and weather. The entire region is also under emergency fire restrictions.

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest has temporarily closed the Wild Rivers Range District and Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District. Find closure orders and maps at www.fs.usda/gov/alerts/rogue-siskiyou/alerts-notices.

The Bureau of Land Management Medford District temporarily closed many areas of public lands to support fire suppression efforts and to prevent new fire starts. Maps of the closure areas are available on the Bureau of Land Management's website: www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/oregon- washington/fire-restrictions.

Printable version of Today's Update available here

Vocabulary words of the day: Structure Protection