Northwest Interagency Coordination Center: 07/29/2017 NWCC Morning Brief

Date/Time Stamp: Saturday, Jul 29, 2017, 06:55

Northwest Activity Summary

Lightning occurred in NE and extreme SE Oregon yesterday afternoon and evening, resulting in moderate initial attack activity, and the thunder cells were wet in most areas. Most of the region was warm and dry, with light to moderate winds. Poor overnight recovery in the mid and upper elevations of the Blue Mountains, central Oregon, and SW Oregon.

Outside of the Blue Mountains, initial attack activity was light. Initial attack in the forested areas was generally very successful, but new starts in lower elevation rangeland fires continue to burn aggressively in the heavy load of grass fuels. Established fires generally showed modest growth during the day.

NIMO (Quesinberry) assigned to the Indian Creek incident on the Mt. Hood NF and NIMO (Houseman) assigned to the Chetco Bar incident on the Rogue-Siskiyou NF. IMT1 (Schulte) has been ordered for the Diamond Creek incident on the Okanogan-Wenatchee NF.

Preparedness Levels

Current:

Northwest	3 (7/13)
National	4 (7/9)

Northwest PL Forecast

3	3	3
3-day	10-day	30-day

Northwest Fire Activity
Large Fire Summary
New large fires: 2
Large fires contained: 1
Uncontained large fires: 8 (OR: 7 WA: 1)

New Fires and Acres 36 fires for 1642 acres
7,401 acres growth on existing large fires
OR: 28 fires for 1644 acres
WA: 8 fires for 2 acres

Northwest IMT Activity
NIMOs committed: 2
Type 1 IMTs committed: 0
Type 2 IMTs committed: 1

National Fire Activity
Initial attack activity: Light (138) new fires

New large incidents: 8
Large fires contained: 7
Uncontained large fires: 35

National IMT Activity
Area Command Teams committed: 0
NIMOs committed: 1
Type 1 IMTs committed: 6
Type 2 IMTs committed: 11

Northwest Current Incident Details

Incidents not Previously Reported: 3

Diamond Creek WA-OWF-000267 IMT3. 27 miles NNW of Winthrop, WA. Start 7/23. Monitor/Confine. Cause: Unknown. 2,710 acres. 0% containment. Timber. Active fire behavior with wind driven runs, group torching and long range spotting. Trail closures in place. IMT1 (Schulte) has been ordered. This incident not included in the large fire count above.

Haystack Rock OR-VAD-000151 IMT3. 11 miles W of Adrian, OR. Start 7/28. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 1,500 acres. 10% containment. Brush/grass. Active fire behavior. Sage grouse habitat threatened.

Dry Creek Buttes OR-VAD-000148 23 miles SW of Adrian, OR. Start 7/28. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 2,500 acres. 0% containment. Limited information available. Sage grouse habitat threatened.

Incidents Previously Reported: 7

Blanket Creek OR-RSF-000371 IMT3. 9 miles NE of Prospect, OR. Start 7/25. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 250 acres (+100). 0% containment. Timber. Moderate fire behavior with short crown runs, flanking and group torching. Road and trail closures in place. IMT2 (Gales) planned to assume command today.

Whitewater OR-WIF-170123 IMT3. 15 miles E of Detroit, OR. Start 7/23. Confine. Cause: Lightning. 85 acres. (+4) 60% containment. Timber. Minimal behavior with backing, isolated torching and short range spotting. Road, area and trail closures in place. IMT2 (Knerr) has been ordered. This incident not included in the large fire count above.

Emerson OR-OCF-000638. IMT3. 4 miles NE of Madras, OR. Start 7/25. Full Suppression. Cause: Human. 10,527 acres (+0). 70% containment. Grass/brush. Moderate fire behavior with creeping, smoldering and isolated torching. Residences and structures threatened. Road and area closures in place.

Upper Mine OR-BUD-007058. IMT2 (Johnson). 8 mi S of Fields, OR. Start 7/24. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 4,135 acres (+0). 85% containment. Grass/brush. Minimal fire behavior with smoldering. Structures threatened.

Crane OR-982S-000299. IMT3. 4 miles SE of Lakeview, OR. Start 7/24. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 602 acres (+0). 100% containment. Timber. Minimal fire behavior. Last report on morning briefing unless significant activity occurs

Hawk OR-VAD-000142 IMT3. 10 miles NW of Jordan Valley, OR. Start 7/27. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 1,412 acres (+0). 75% containment. Brush/grass. Minimal fire behavior. Last report on morning briefing unless significant activity occurs.

Paterson Slough WA-MCR-000285 IMT3. 3 miles N of Irrigon, OR. Start 7/27. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 886 acres (+0). 100% containment. Grass. Limited information available. Last report on morning briefing unless significant activity occurs.

Northwest Fires Utilizing Monitor, Confine, Point Zone Protection Suppression Strategies (YTD) (link)

Lists fires (of any size) that singly utilize Monitor, Confine or Point Zone Protection suppression strategies, or use Multiple Suppression Strategies (which may also include a Full Suppression component).

Northwest Fire Potential Summary

The number of ignitions and the potential for large fires is forecast to hover a bit above normal for the next few days due to increasing fire danger and some fire starts from lightning over sections of eastern Oregon. Starts are not expected to be numerous enough to result in large fires. Fortunately, general winds are not going to be a problem for the region. However, hotter drier weather is coming for the next 7 to 10 days with record temperatures likely in some places in the region by next week. This heat wave will also result in poor nighttime humidity recovery at upper elevations which means fire danger will only increase during this period for just about all the geographic area.

See your local NWS fire weather planning forecast for the weather details and any Red Flag Warnings in your area.

More info, see NW 7-Day Significant Fire Potential Forecast, and National 7-Day Significant Fire Potential Forecast

National Incident Management Situation Report (IMSR): https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf

Other GACC Morning Reports: