ODF Wildland Fire Situation Report – July 24, 2024

ODF incident management teams:

• Team 1 is in command of the Boneyard and Courtrock fires near Monument (ODF Central Oregon District). Updates available on the incident’s Facebook page.
• Team 3 is in command of the Battle Mountain Complex near Ukiah (ODF Northeast Oregon District). Governor Kotek has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for this fire. Updates available on the incident’s Facebook page.
• North Carolina Forest Service Complex Incident Management Team (CIMT) is in command of the Cottage Grove Complex (ODF South Cascade District). Updates available on the incident’s Facebook page. This team was ordered in by ODF through a state-to-state mutual aid agreement.
• Team 2 is currently on rotation.

ODF Priority Fires:

There are approximately 6,781 personnel assigned to the 34 large fires across the state, not including many of the local and agency government employees, landowners, forestland operators, and members of the community who are contributing every day.

Over 200 resources from 18 states have come to fight alongside Oregonians through ODF’s state-to-state mutual aid agreements and the NW Compact with more on the way.

District Highlight: Earlier this week, firefighters in the Klamath-Lake District responded to the Poe Fire alongside local fire districts. Due to the conditions, the fire was extremely active from the beginning and had the potential to move and grow quickly.

The homeowner’s work in creating defensible space not only saved their home but provided a safe access point for resources to get ahead of and catch the fire. The forward progression of the fire was stopped at four acres, and it has been fully contained since.

What to expect this week

Weather: Today is the peak day of concern as an approaching will produce abundant lightning from south central Oregon to far northeast Washington extending south to the Oregon border. Outflow wind gusts have potential of reaching 50-70 mph. A wetting rain is possible, but unlikely for most storms. Additionally, a mainly dry cold front will increase general winds east of the Cascade crest at all elevations and not just the Cascade gaps. Very gusty winds continue through Thursday for all central and eastern PSAs. Thursday also begins a cooler, but still lower humidity, trend lasting into early next week. Low (15% or less) chances of thunderstorms return Saturday through Tuesday.

Prevention: There are red flag warnings in effect across Central and Eastern Oregon for the next couple of days. This means that the area is in critical fire condition. Even the smallest of sparks could start the next wildfire. Now more than ever we need Oregonians to prevent human-caused fires and not bring fire hazards onto the landscape. By having less human-caused fires, our resources can focus on detecting, assessing and suppressing new fires and putting out the current large fires.

Please, know the fire danger level of the areas where you live, work and play, and follow all local restrictions on burning, equipment use, campfires and other activities that can start wildfires. Find danger levels and restrictions across the state here.

Resources

• ODF wildfire blog and Public Fire Restrictions/Danger Levels map
• Regional situation report and national situation report
• Inciweb (information, photos, videos, and maps from specific incidents)