By Mindy Gould on Friday, July 21st, 2023 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
Harney County-Crews continue to handle hot spots throughout the burned area with support from aircraft as needed. Expect more of this and increased mop-up operations over the next several days. More accurate mapping shows approximately 619 acres burned.
Mopping-up describes the hard physical labor process of extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines down to the mineral soil, felling fire damaged trees, and cooling ash pits to make a fire line less likely to escape or to reduce residual smoke. This is followed up by ‘cold-trailing’ with the back of one’s hand along the ground near the fire line to make sure no heat remains.
A base camp for resources will remain at Mann Lake for the duration; remember to avoid the East Steens Road and Mann Lake Recreation Site if at all possible.