Special Message:
Evacuations are still in effect for Reuben Road, Mt. Reuben Road and McCullough Creek Road in Douglas County.
Josephine County is also continuing evacuations for Poorman Creek, Lower Graves Creek Road, Grave Creek Road , and Lower Wolf Creek.
Current Situation: The DOUGLAS COMPLEX currently consists of Milo, on the east side of Interstate 5; Rabbit Mountain, on the west side of Interstate 5, northwest of Glendale, Dad’s Creek, west of Glendale, and the Farmer’s Fire south of Glendale. The Oregon Military Department and the Oregon Office of Emergency Management are assisting with response to the DOUGLAS COMPLEX.
The Oregon Army National Guard is providing aviation assets at the request of the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Five aircraft are prepared to help with fire suppression including three HH-60M Blackhawk helicopters, one CH-47 Chinook helicopter, and one UH-72 Lakota. Approximately 125 Soldiers along with 26 High Mobility Multi Wheeled Vehicles are also slated to be called-up on State Active Duty within the next 72 hours to assist with traffic control in the evacuated areas.
Milo
Milo Branch is a group of smaller fires, all less than 20 acres in size. Firefighters are patrolling these fires today. No further control problems are expected on these fires.
Rabbit Mountain
Near Middle Creek, firefighters continue to make progress on line construction as well as setting up hoses and water for use in extinguishing heat along the fire line. The containment line held yesterday with some mop up started.
Dad’s Creek
The south end of the fire continues to burn actively near Grave Creek. Structural engines worked with hand crews to contain the spread of fire on the West end of Grave Creek road. Overnight, firefighters working in the Cow Creek Road area made good progress.
Crews have been working to scout the areas on lower Wolf Creek to Grave Creek to provide structure protection needs. The structure protection task forces assigned to that division reported good results with continued active fire behavior.
In Josephine County, overhead personnel spent a large part of the day accessing the area and reported challenging terrain, limited access, and active fire conditions. Approximately 30 homes are being threatened in the Grave Creek, Poorman Creek, and Lower Wolf Creek areas. Firefighters contained a spot fire that crossed Lower Grave Creek Road yesterday afternoon. Today, they will be removing any vegetation that may be considered a fire hazard around structures in Poorman Creek.
The fire is expected to burn actively again in the afternoon when winds start to affect fire movement. Areas around Glendale will see less smoke in the area today due to the change of wind direction from the northwest.
Weather: The Red Flag warning was lifted yesterday with the lightning staying to the east. Today, a cooler marine weather pattern is expected to move into the area. Temperatures will be lower and humidity a little higher. Winds will pick up in the afternoon, coming from the west and rotating northwest with gusts up to 20 miles per hour. A drying trend is forecasted for the weekend.
Courtesy: National Wildfire Suppression Facebook Page
2013 The NW Fire Blog
