7/23/2016 Wildland Fire Minute

*The Creed fire is now know as the Scott Canyon Fire

Central Oregon fire crews Thursday responded to the Creed Fire in Gilliam County. The fire grew to 12,500 acres overnight, and firefighters are bracing for Red Flag conditions today due to low humidity and gusty winds. The cause of the fire is undetermined, but the area had not received any recent lightning.

So far this year in the Pacific Northwest we’ve had 21 large fires, which are fires over 100 acres in timber or 300 acres in grass. Nearly 80% -- 16 of those large fires were human-caused, meaning they were preventable. The average over the past 5 years to date is 15 human-caused large fires – just 43% of 34 total large fires.