08/22/2017 Nena Springs Fire Update

Nena Springs Fire Update - Aug. 22 Office: (541) 460-7525 Email: NenaFire2017@gmail.com InciWeb: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5489 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CTWSFireMgt/

Evacuation Notices Lifted on Nena Springs Fire Warm Springs OR – Law enforcement officers have lifted all evacuation notices on the Nena Springs Fire. This affects the Charley Canyon, South Junction, Culpus Bridge, and Wolf Point Subdivisions. The Webster Flat Road  is also open to the public; however, heavy fire traffic in the area still remains. Please stay away from the area if possible to reduce the risk to fire equipment still using those roads to complete their work. The fire is now 70% contained. It has not grown since August 20. Its final footprint is expected to remain 68,135 acres. Firefighters are still finding dead and down logs smoldering in the higher elevations.  While these hot spots do not pose a threat to containment lines, firefighters are using a light helicopter to drop water to remove as much heat as possible. They are also picking up hoses, pumps and other fire-related equipment that is no longer needed. There are still 240 firefighters assigned to the fire. They make up four crews and 24 engines.  Additional leadership and support staff are in place providing organization to the small organization that is still working at the Incident Command Post, located at Warm Springs Fire Management. As work on the fire is again wrapping up, plans are under way to begin releasing resources to assist area fires.  This process will begin Wed. and Thursday when a transfer of command will occur to a smaller organization. A chance of thunderstorms are in the forecast for Wednesday. These conditions are putting firefighters on high alert as it is the same environment that created a dust devil that blew an ember from the fire’s interior four days ago. This event re-ignited the fire, blowing it 19,000 acres before firefighters could catch it again. As the Solstice events taking place in Warm Springs wrap up, there are still a lot of traffic concerns for emergency responders. We appreciate your patience with flaggers and emergency responders working to keep our public and firefighters safe. Tomorrow will be the final update for the Nena Springs Fire unless significant activity occurs. # FIRE MANAGEMENT #