7/24/21 Bootleg Fire Update

 (Klamath Falls, OR) –Yesterday, fireline construction progressed north from Long Creek toward Coyote Creek. The day shift was able to hold the fireline from the 400 Road to the south despite some active fire behavior that was pushing to the north and west. Night shift was able to work the area between Long Creek and Coyote Creek and construct direct fireline with dozers, hand crews, and hose lays. Crews continue to clear roads as a contingency plan above Sycan Marsh. Firefighters addressed spot fires on the northeastern flank and struggled to hold them. Burn out operations were performed from the 36 road to remove available unburned fuels to contain the spots. The burn out had favorable winds and good progress was made to protect the Summer Lake community. Night crews worked to hold those areas and perform additional burn out operations. Crews and resources have been repositioned to bases near Summer Lake and Paisely. This move will put crews and equipment closer to the active areas of the fire. The area around Summer Lake remains in Level 3 evacuation.  

“This fire is resistant to stopping at dozer lines.” Jim Hampton, Fire Behavior Analyst (FBAN) “With the critically dry weather and fuels we are experiencing, firefighters are having to constantly re-evaluate their control lines and look for contingency options.” 

On the southeastern corner of the fire, crews worked through the night to strengthen the existing containment line. Areas of heat near the fire line were mopped up, a couple of spots over the line were extinguished, and slop over the fire line continues to be worked by crews. Today, crews will continue to hold, secure and monitor the fire on its southeastern edge. 
 

Firefighters are actively patrolling and mopping areas along the western portion of the fire. This step is necessary to ensure that all heat that could threaten the security of the fire line has been extinguished. Resources continue to be shifted to meet the needs across the fire area. Firefighters from this fire may be called to provide initial attack response to new fire starts that have the potential to rapidly grow, given the extremely dry fuel conditions. 
 

A Red Flag Warning is in effect this afternoon for dry and unstable atmospheric conditions. Temperatures today will be warmer and smoke and haze from nearby fires will linger through the day. The smoke is expected to keep temperatures down a couple degrees today which may help overall fire activity. Unfortunately, this smoke may impede air operations on the fire. 

As a part of the normal two week rotation of Incident Management Teams (IMT), Alaska Type 1 IMTwill begin arriving on the fire today.  They will shadow the existing teams for several days and assume command of the fire on Tuesday, July 27th. 
 

Evacuations:   Evacuations are dynamic. An interactive map of evacuation levels in Lake and Klamath Counties is available at  tinyurl.com/bootlegevac 
 

Red Cross Evacuation Shelters: For information or assistance: 1-800-Red-Cross, (www.redcrossblog.org/disaster)   
 

Closures:  The Fremont-Winema National Forest is closed to the public in the fire area. Map and full order available at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7609/.    
 

Smoke:  Northerly winds are expected over the next several days and could cause smoke to linger in Chiloquin, Lakeview, and communities in the Sprague River Valley. See: fires.airfire.org/outlooks/southcentraloregon.