| OREGON STATE FIRE MARSHAL INCIDENT ACTIVITY REPORT 1604 hours 08/26/05 Prepared by Donna Disch TYPE OF INCIDENT: Conflagration INCIDENT NAME: Deer Creek Fire DATE AND TIME FIRE STARTED: August 25, 2005 @ 1700 For Conflagration: DATE AND TIME CONFLAGRATION DECLARED: August 25, 2005 @ 20:45 requested by Josephine Fire Defense Board Chief Brian Pike. LOCATION: 8 miles north of Cave Junction and a few miles east of Selma, OR. SIZE: 1800 Acres CAUSE: Under investigation STATUS: Active: This fire is burning in grass, brush and timber 8 miles north of Cave Junction and a few miles east of Selma, Oregon. The fire burned briefly in a lowland valley on both sides of Deer Creek Road, then moved onto steeper ground and into a more heavily timbered area. RESIDENCES THREATENED: 102 homes STRUCTURES THREATENED: 225: 102 homes and 123 other buildings RESIDENCES EVACUATED: Voluntary evacuation in place. Per Josephine County Sheriff’s Office: Search and Rescue going door to door on Davis Creek, Elliot Creek and Cheny Creek advising of possible voluntary evacuations if the fire jumps; citizens are not denied entry to their homes, but must show ID to get through. Citizens needing medication may get in their homes. Citizens who leave Davis Creek will not be allowed back in until fire behavior is moderate (involves 6-8 homes). An animal shelter has not been requested. The American Red Cross (ARC) has a shelter open at Illinois Valley High School until not needed. ARC reports 4 used the shelter last night. RESIDENCES LOST: 3 homes; 2 homes have been damaged OTHER STRUCTURES LOST: 12 other buildings are confirmed destroyed; 6 outbuildings have been damaged INJURIES/FATALITIES: None known SPECIAL CONDITIONS: From the time the fire started it was aggressive until 0100 hours when an air inversion decreased temperatures and caused the fire to remain down through early afternoon. As the afternoon progressed, the inversion lifted and the fire became spotty. Fire area is steep rugged terrain with heavy fuel of timber, brush and grass. Winds are 10 – 15 mph with temperatures of 80 – 85 with wind from the west. Humidity is 25-30%. INCIDENT MANAGEMENT AGENCY (S): Oregon Department of Forestry Lead; OSFM structural lead STRUCTURAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Bill Anderson WILDLAND OR OTHER (STATE WHICH TYPE) INCIDENT COMMANDER: None at this time AGENCIES INVOLVED IN SUPPRESSION: Illinois Valley, Rural Metro, Jackson County Task Force, (includes Medford, Ashland), Grants Pass, Oregon Department of Forestry (primary to mobilized task forces listed below). Federal Agencies – None at this time Other state – California Department of Forestry Other – Josephine County Sheriff’s Office is managing evacuation and traffic control; the ARC has set up Illinois Valley High School as a shelter for evacuation, Josephine County Emergency Management Search and Rescue are notifying citizens of current evacuation status and providing public information. OSFM Resources –
OSFM INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Red Team
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
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08/26/2005 kgw.com
A fast-moving wildfire burned at least four homes Thursday in a rural area of southwest Oregon. The Deer Creek fire, which began Thursday afternoon, had burned at least 1,500 acres of dense forest mixed with homes a few miles east of the rural community of Selma, said Illinois Valley Fire District spokeswoman Sandy Humphfries. Residents of 30 to 40 homes in the area were urged to evacuate. About 200 firefighters, four air tankers, four bulldozers and three helicopters were battling the blaze. Chip Warner and his wife, Suzie, stood at an intersection and watched as the fire burned up Crook's Creek toward their home. "My wife grabbed what she could before they evacuated her," said Chip Warner, a construction worker who once served as a volunteer firefighter. "The black smoke means a structure fire. Look at that puff of black smoke. That's right in our neck of the woods." Warner said he and his wife have spent the last four years thinning the woods on their 10-acre property. "When you live in the sticks, it's always an issue, but you don't expect it to happen to you," he added. The Deer Creek fire was burning a few miles south of U.S. Highway 199, and several miles from the massive 2002 Biscuit fire, which burned 500,000 acres and threatened 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley. Illinois Valley Fire Chief Harry Rich said the cause of the Deer Creek fire was under investigation.
AGNESS, OR, July 31, 2005 -- The Blossom Complex remains as he number one fire in the nation and is getting all of the resources needed to support suppression activities. The complex is estimated at 971 acres, and is 15% contained. Currently, there are 555 people assigned to the complex. This total includes twenty-one, twenty person hand crews, 4 heavy-lift helicopters, one medium-lift helicopter and 2 light helicopters.
Heavy and medium-lift helicopters are primarily utilized for dropping water on the fire, while the light helicopters are used to observe fire behavior, scout future line locations, and to re-supply crews utilizing cargo sling-loads. Today the main helibase will be moved from Merlin to Powers. This move will facilitate efficiency in operations, as a shorter turn around time for refueling means that more effective water drops can be made on the Blossom Fire. Morning flight operations should not be affected by smoke or coastal fog by moving to Powers.
Fire crews continue to construct fireline and monitor established fireline on the Blossom Complex, located approximately 12 miles northeast of Agness, Oregon. The complex consists of three lightning-caused fires that started on July 21.
Crews will continue to patrol the fire perimeter and mop-up the edges of the Solitude Fire (128 acres), working into the interior. Firefighters will monitor the 8-acre Huggins Fire from the air and with a squad of firefighters on the ground today as it was declared controlled on Friday.
The Blossom Fire (estimated at 835 acres) still poses unique challenges to fire managers as they plan to safely suppress the fire north of the Rogue River and east of Blossom Creek. Vegetation that burned incompletely in previous days has the potential to re-burn. Crews have constructed and are holding the fire line along the northwest portion of the fire along Panther Ridge. Today several crews will utilize wood chippers to reduce the brush and ladder fuels along roads northwest of the fire to improve access and create a more defensible fireline. Other crews are constructing containment line along the west flank, and scouting locations along the east flank to safely halt progress of the fire.
A forecast for cooler temperatures and higher humidities on Monday is good news for firefighters. Technicians from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, have installed two temporary RAWS (Remote Automatic Weather Stations) that will link to two existing area RAWS. The weather stations assist fire behavior analysts and meteorologists to predict fuel and fire weather conditions. For more information and maps of the fire, please visit our web site at: www.fs.fed.us/r6/rogue-siskiyou and click on Current Fire Information (Smokey Bear sign along the right side of the page).
Oregon Department of Forestry Type 2 Incident Management Team will took over operations on July 28, 2005. Fire is threatening BLM sites, Spotted Owl nest sites and Peregrine Falcon nest sites.
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