9/13/2014 790 Fire Update

 790 Fire Update

Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team 3, Incident Commander: Tim Keith

September 13, 2014 - 9:00 a.m.

Fire Information Center:  (206) 947-9729

Inciweb: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4095/

Facebook: South Central Oregon Fire Management Partnership

Location: 10 miles southeast of Prospect, Oregon and 10 miles northwest of Rocky Point, Oregon burning primarily in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Current situation:  3,036 acres, 70% contained 498 firefighters assigned.

Yesterday’s Operations – Crews continued to make good progress on mopping up the western flank of the fire, extinguishing smokes 100-150 feet inside the fire’s edge.  Rapellers were inserted to work a contained hotspot located outside the eastern perimeter of the fire.  Helicopters and pack strings continued to provide support to firefighters working within the Sky Lakes Wilderness.  The north, south and east flanks of the fire were patrolled by air and field observers and remain secure.  A new safety issue was identified when a food cache established for firefighters spiked out in the wilderness was ransacked by bears.

Today’s Operations – Crews, supported by helicopter water drops, will continue to aggressively mop-up the western side of the fire, extinguishing any burning material that may be a threat to the containment lines.  Excess equipment and supplies will be removed from those areas of the fire no longer requiring those resources.  Assessment of fire line rehabilitation will take place on the secured areas of the fire.  A contingency group will again be available in the event the fire should become more active and breach current containment lines on the western perimeter.

Weather and Fire Behavior – Warm days, dry air and moderately unstable atmosphere will persist over the fire area through the weekend. High temperatures reaching 75-85 degrees with poor humidity recovery overnight and minimum relative humidity lowering to the mid-teens during the day are forecasted.  These factors will contribute to fuels on the interior of the fire actively burning over a more prolonged period through the day, with the potential to ignite spot fires up to a quarter mile away.

Closures:

Area and trail closures remain in effect for the 790 Fire.  Details of the closures can be found at www.fs.usda.gov/rogue-siskiyou or http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4095.  The Pacific Crest Trail remains closed from the south boundary of Crater Lake National Park south to Highway 140. Pacific Crest Trail information is available at http://www.pcta.org/ .

Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR): A TFR is in place over the fire. Please check the NOTAM for current information.

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