Thunderstorms bring light precipitation over the Winding Waters Complex in Wallowa County
By Joe Hathaway on Sunday, August 4th, 2024 in Northeastern Oregon News
WALLOWA COUNTY – Crews have pushed into heavy mop up, which includes organized gridding operations. The accompanying photo shows a crew doing gridding. Crews that are gridding move in evenly spaced unison to comb the ground for lingering heat. In addition to gridding to find heat, infrared cameras are also being used.
Ten Adult In Custody (AIC) crews and Department of Corrections staff, led by ODF Crew Bosses, have been fighting this fire during Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team 2s command. The AIC crews fighting this fire are from South Fork Camp, Warner Creek Correctional Facility, Two Rivers Correctional Institution and Powder River Correctional Facility.
Today, due to thunderstorm activity crews will be vigilant for fire starts outside of the containment lines. Mop up operations will push deeper into the black, and suppression repair to remove berms along dozer lines and install water bars is ongoing. Air support is available to assist firefighters.
Isolated showers and thunderstorms are forecasted this afternoon and evening.
Transfer of Command to a local Type 4 Incident Command is projected for August 5, 2024.
Public use and industrial restrictions remain in effect on both ODF and USFS jurisdictions.
Contact Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center at (541) 963- 7171 or dial 9-1-1 to report a fire or smoke. Find Blue Mountains fire-updates at http://bluemountainfireinfo.blogspot.com/
FIRE AT A GLANCE
Estimated Size: 752 Acres
Containment: 61%
Cause: Lightning
Estimated Cost: $5.4 Million
Evacuations: None
Resources
Total Resources: 465
Hand Crews: 18
Engines: 17
Ambulances: 2
Dozers: 4
Water Tenders: 7
Masticators: 1
Skidgens: 2
Helicopters:
Type 1 – 2
Type 2 – 2
Type 3 – 2
