8/15/2015 Bendire Complex Update - Eastern Oregon

Contact: Larry Moore--Public Affairs Officer
Office (541) 473-6218 / Cell (336) 341-8209

Vale, Ore., August 15, 2015 – After Friday’s rapid growth of the Bendire Complex, firefighters are gaining ground today. High winds on Friday afternoon pushed the Bendire Complex to the northeast very quickly. The increase in affected acreage brought the fire to an estimated total of 45,000 acres.

Five bulldozers, more than 30 engines, six water tenders and six hand crews are on scene. Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team Four (IIMT 4) is expected to take command of the Bendire Complex tonight. Until then, the High Desert Type III team out of Burns and Vale are still managing the fire. The Vale, Ironside and Juntura Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) have resources at the Bendire Complex as well.

Weather has been a complicating factor in containing the Bendire Complex. High winds, low humidity and high temperatures carried the fire quickly across highly volatile fuels. However, another factor in making the Bendire Complex challenging has been few roads by which to access the fire line.

“Access is definitely an issue,” said Incident Commander Sam Delong, “this is rough country and everything is about two hours from anywhere".

Firefighters made progress on several fronts at the Bendire Complex yesterday evening and throughout most of Saturday. The newest section of the fire, the northeast corner, is being covered with bulldozer lines today. The west side of the fire has well established fire lines and personnel there are working to “mop-up” remaining hot spots in the area. The southwest corner of the fire is in difficult terrain and establishing lines remains a concern in containment; firefighters are working to “burn-out” areas there in order to starve that portion of the fire of fuels.

Priority sage-grouse habitat has been affected by the Bendire Complex. Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), have also been affected—particularly the Castle Rock ACEC. Vale District Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource specialists are working with fire personnel in order to mitigate any affects. Still, public and personnel safety as well as property remain the top priority.

The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (MAC) at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise has set the Vale District, the Northwest region and the entire United States at Preparedness Level 5 (PL-5). This means that Geographic Areas are experiencing major incidents which have the potential to exhaust all agency fire resources. Resources at the Vale District and other throughout the region are strained or entirely exhausted. This puts the entire region in a precarious position, as it compromises firefighter’s ability to respond to new incidents. For this reason, Vale District Associate District Manager Shane DeForest says that everyone should take extra care in ensuring human-caused fires don’t further strain resources.

“Our firefighters are hard at work trying to contain the wildfires in our region,” DeForest said, “the public can help us best by keeping a vigilant eye for new fires, but especially by practicing fire safety preventing any more fires.”
If you see or suspect a wildfire, call the Vale BLM Fire Dispatch Center at 541-473-6295. For information on reporting wildfires in eastern Oregon: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/vale/fire/report-fire.php.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2014, the BLM generated $5.2 billion in receipts from public lands.