Cool weather front and a few sprinkles on the way, but not enough to make a big difference on fires

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — “Spotty showers” are forecast for tonight over Oakridge and Westfir, but they won’t justify breaking out the champagne.

Managers of the Middle Fork Complex of wildfires say the sprinkles might help community morale but they won’t make much difference to the firefighters trying to contain the last of these blazes.

“These showers are not expected to produce enough moisture to penetrate the canopy or affect fire activity,” the fire command team said in a statement Thursday.

The daily briefing by Randy Johnson, commander of the interagency federal response team, was decidedly upbeat Thursday. He said the once-danagerous Kwis Fire on the eastern edge of Oakridge  had”remained within its footprint” as “mop-up continues.”

In other positive news for Oakridge and Westfir, the community’s air quality index registered again in the “good” range as winds from the west generally pushed smoke away from town, according to LRAPA, the Lane Regional Air Pollution Agency.

Johnson, meanwhile, said fire crews continued to make “good progress” on the larger Gales and Ninemile fires north of Westfir and east of Lowell. More resources were being shifted to those fires, on difficult steep terrain, now that firefighters appear to have the upper hand on the Kwis Fire near Oakridge, he said.

“The good news is that it’s all going according to our plan,” he said.

In a slight deviation from the typical briefings given since a night of lightning strikes touched off the Middle Fork Complex fires on July 29, Johnson offered a colorful story about a small brush fire that broke out Wednesday not far from Circle Bar Golf Cllub.

“One of our helicopter pilots saw it on his return to helibase for fuel,” Johnson said. He was able to get his bucket on that fire. He made several drops and kept it in check until ground team could get in” from the Oakridge/Hazeldell Fire Department and the Middle Fork Ranger District.

The pilot’s alert actions “kept another fire from getting on the map and getting big,” Johnson said. “It was close to town, so we are happy about how all that went yesterday.”

The one-acre fire in brush and trees near Westoak and McFarland roads was quickly extinguished. The cause remained under investigation late Thursday, according to an ODF spokesman.