“Off the map.”
That’s the triumphant phrase the chief of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry Doug Grafe used to refer to several fires he felt were so well contained, they could be downgraded in priority. Among those “off the map” include the Echo Mountain Complex, which had forced numerous evacuations on the edge of Lincoln City, the Powerline Fire, which threatened parts of Washington County, and the Almeda Fire, the catastrophic blaze that burned down much of Phoenix and Talent in southern Oregon last week.
At the same time, Grafe gave insight into the enormity of the work crews have accomplished, and what remains — including the completion of hundreds of miles of containment lines around several remaining enormous blazes, including the Holiday Farm Fire in Lane County, and three huge blazes north of there that together have burned a half million acres — the Beachie Creek, Lionshead and Riverside fires.
While damage estimates continue to escalate, as experts head into fire zones to inspect buildings, Oregonians got encouraging news on the death toll, Thursday when Major Gen. Michael Stencel told reporters that a 12-person mortuary unit for the fire was planning to stand down. The fires are responsible for eight confirmed deaths.
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We were promised rain, and for once, the rain came. Boy, did it ever.
The National Weather Service initially predicted that a series of thunderstorms could bring a quarter to a half an inch of rain to douse fires burning on both sides of Oregon’s Cascades. Mother Nature delivered, and then some. The weather service reported that storm spotters were recording up to an inch of rain in just 20-30 minutes. The storms also brought lightning and ping pong-ball sized hail.
Grafe, the chief of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry, said Thursday that the moisture would hit an ideal area.
“If I could script it, that’s exactly where I would [put it],” Grafe said, calling it “good news for Oregon.”
Grafe did warn that the winds could increase and, if the moisture didn’t hit the burning area first, those winds could be problematic and test any fire containment lines firefighters have established.
“For the next 24 hours, we’re expecting some challenges with the weather,” Grafe said Thursday. “The storm front does bring favorable moisture, however, there are some downsides and it’s those winds and it depends on where the winds land.”
Stations around the area clocked winds at up to 60 miles per hour.
There’s a chance those rains could bring another set of consequences: violent, fast-moving landslides called post-fire debris flows that can outpace cars and annihilate anything in their path.
Already, the rain has knocked out electricity in some parts of Oregon. According to Pacific Power, there were more than 170 power outages in the state affecting nearly 5,000 households. The bulk of those outages, about 3,500, were clustered east of Albany. Pacific Power is also reporting outages Friday morning on the Oregon Coast, near Lincoln City, as well as up and down the Interstate-5 corridor.
The National Weather Service put out an alert for flash flooding and potential debris flows for burned areas throughout the Oregon Cascades. But even though the debris flows that follow fires are well-studied, there’s never really been one documented in Western Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Transportation, fire officials and researchers all agree on this: They really can’t say if a debris flow will happen, or if it does, how big it will be.
But they also say that these fires created the perfect conditions for such events. They burned very hot, in very steep terrain.
“It’s worse than I feared. It really is,” said Michael Zimmerman, senior engineering geologist for the Oregon Department of Transportation on Thursday. He works in an ODOT-designated region that encompasses Portland, Mount Hood and the area burned by the Riverside Fire.
It’s unclear if the heavy storms triggered any slides as of Friday morning, or if they will at all — most of the areas are evacuated, and news from incident command crews come in slowly. But Thursday evening, operations were suspended at the Holiday Farm Fire, and all non-essential personnel, including most utility and road workers, were told to leave for 24 hours. Even if slides don’t come, officials said that storm damage was likely to slow firefighting progress, as high winds down burned trees in the area, and rains dislodge debris from unsteady hillsides.
David Bishop with the National Weather Service in Portland said Friday morning that the agency had not received any reports of flash floods in burn scars around the region. Though, he said, NWS did issue a flash flood warning for the Portland metro area due to Thursday night’s storm causing minor flooding on streets. That warning expired early Friday morning, Bishop said.
Meteorologists expect isolated thunderstorms, wind, and rain to continue to help and hinder fire crews through Saturday.
“Expect the precipitation to continue, but it will be on the lighter side than what was experienced [Thursday] night,” Bishop said, “and similar for thunder as well.”
[ Why a blast of rainfall on Oregon’s new forest fire scars could trigger landslides ]
As wildfires raged through Oregon, staff at fish hatcheries around the state raced to try to save – or prematurely release – millions of chinook salmon, steelhead and trout being raised in captivity to preserve fragile fish species, state officials said Thursday.
About 450,000 fish perished at two hatcheries combined and nearly 1.2 million chinook, steelhead and trout were released into the McKenzie River east of Eugene all at once in desperation as the fire approached and fresh water to the facility was cut off. Other hatcheries lost critical infrastructure, including a hatchery building near the Oregon-California border, and one facility went ahead with a critical breeding period while running on limited power from a back-up generator.
State wildlife officials are still assessing the extent of the damage and the impact of the mass deaths and mass releases on the hatchery program and the full situation might not be clear for weeks, said ODFW’s Deputy Director Shannon Hurn. The agency is also bracing for mudslides that occur when winter rains hit the burned areas and push debris into rivers and streams.
“We are still very much in the emergency response phase,” Hurn said.
Archie Creek Fire: The fire burning in Douglas County was more than 130,000 acres in size and 25% contained as of Friday morning. The land burned by the Archie Creek Fire is roughly split between private property and land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Beachie Creek Fire: The Beachie Creek Fire has burned more than 190,000 acres destroying 1,288 structures and damaging 134. Of the eight people who have died in Oregon’s recent wildfires, four of them were killed in the Beachie Creek Fire. The fire was considered 20% contained as of mid-day Thursday. Still, more than 4,000 structures are within the Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation zone.
Holiday Farm Fire: The blaze responsible for burning communities near the McKenzie River has burned more than 170,000 acres and was 10% contained as of Thursday afternoon. Though the official size of the fire increased by 3,000 acres, much of that is due to better data, not fire growth. More than 500 structures have been destroyed through the area. Thunderstorms through the weekend could bring gusty winds, rain and even hail to the area.
Lionshead Fire: The 189,000-acre fire burning in the Cascades just east of the Beachie Creek and Riverside fires was 10% contained Thursday. More than 1,000 personnel were listed as battling the blaze, which is burning largely on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation and on national forest land south of Mt. Hood.
Riverside Fire: Burning just north of the Beachie Creek Fire, the Riverside Fire is estimated at nearly 138,000 acres in size and is 6% contained as of Friday morning. Fire officials wrote that a Flash Flood Watch is in effect for the area through late Friday due to heavy rain.
Slater Fire: Measured at just about 150,000 acres — much of that in California — the Slater Fire was considered 20% contained as of Friday morning.
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