New incident management team takes over fight against Courtrock Fire
By Joe Hathaway on Saturday, August 3rd, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News
MONUMENT – Update for Saturday, August 3
Acres: 20,013 acres
Start Date: July 21st, 2024
Cause: Lightning
Containment: 57%
Resources: 382
Highlight: Today, Southwest Incident Management Team 2 (SWIMT 2), Incident Commanders John Truett and Todd Abel, took command of the Courtrock Fire from ODF Team 1. Additional equipment and crews were moved to the Long Creek Camp to assist with fire suppression operations. A crew dedicated to attacking new fire starts is on standby and is ready to respond, if needed.
Overview: Firefighters have stopped forward progress on a 150-acre spot fire that started yesterday on the east side of the fire’s perimeter where available dry fuels are present. Work continues today to further reinforce fireline around the spot fire utilizing hoselays. Firefighters are closely monitoring the areas along the 538 road for potential hot spots. Night operations on the fire continues. The northern side of the fire is experiencing minimal to no heat on infrared detection.
Weather: The Courtrock Fire is still under an excessive heat warning with a red-flag warnings and fire weather starting at 2 p.m. until 7 a.m. Sunday morning. Today will be cloudy, slightly cooler in the mid 80s-upper 90s with a 20 percent chance of lightning and relative humidity at 10 percent. Sunday will be hot with lingering moisture and a chance of lightning.
Evacuations: No Level 3 (Go Now) evacuations are in effect.
- For Grant County evacuation information, visit Grant County Emergency Management Office’s Facebook page, or sign up for the Grant County Emergency Alert System at https://member.everbridge.net/825462649520134/login.
- For Morrow County evacuation information, visit https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/de78333b0d2544f7a3 20142174aa20ae
Shelters:
- Evacuation center is set up at Grant Union High School, 911 S Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845.
Closures:
- The U.S. Forest Service has issued closures for the Malheur National Forest. For Malheur National Forest closures information, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/malheur/news-events
- Information for Zone I of the Battle Mountain Complex, including the western portion of the Monkey Creek Fire (formerly Boneyard Fire) can be found at https://www.facebook.com/battlemountaincomplex2024
Fire Information: 541-208-4369 from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. – 2024.courtrock@firenet.gov
