After the large lightning event that started the evening of Thursday, August 24, the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) West Oregon District has made significant progress on recent ignitions.
Starting the night of August 24 and going into the morning of August 25, Oregon experienced a statewide lightning event that resulted in over 1,500 lightning strikes from Northern California to Southern Washington. ODF responded to over 50 fires on Friday, with response times starting as early as 1:30 a.m.
The West Oregon District responded to roughly 10 fires, which were caused by lightning. The district worked rigorously to make sure that all the fires were caught quickly and put out at 10 acres or less. A mop up is extinguishing or removing burning material on a fire after it has been controlled. The following fires were some of the larger incidents in the district:
- South Mountain Fire (11.5 acres) – Crews made good progress on getting a barrier completed around the fire and will continue mop up operations and patrolling over the weekend.
- Hatchery Fall Creek Fire (approx. 6 acres) – Crews are working on completing the barrier around the perimeter and will continue mop up operations.
- Starr Creek Fire (5 acres) – Working toward 100 percent mop up on this fire today.
Other fires in the district were caught quickly and are close to being 100 percent mopped up if not already.
The district also had the opportunity to help our federal partners by assisting on the Rock Creek Fire near Corvallis, which is on U.S. Forest Service land. The West Oregon District is supporting the Siuslaw National Forest to help keep the footprint as small as possible.
The department is urging Oregonians to show their support for wildland firefighters by actively participating in wildfire prevention. Across the state, firefighters and suppression resources are spread thin. The less human-caused fires ODF firefighters have to respond to, the less their firefighters and resources are strained. For more wildfire prevention tips, visit www.keeporegongreen.org.
