INCIDENT SUMMARY
The 204 COW FIRE is burning approximately 17 miles southwest of Unity on the Prairie City Ranger District of the Malheur National Forest in Oregon. It was sparked by lightning on August 9, 2019, after storms passed over the area.
SIZE UP
About 5,516 acres of timber and brush have been destroyed. Crews have reached a five-percent containment status.
Containment is expected to be reached by October 15, 2019.
Firefighters completed removal of fuels along the south primary line, as well as completing construction of a hoselay supporting this line.
The eastern control was almost completed on Thursday, August 29th with additional fire fuels removed and chipped.
The north control was also established yesterday with meeting all fire objectives. Fire was said to be contained along the 13 Road from Short Creek north for about one mile.
The west control line is located in higher elevations and in areas within burn scars of previous wildfires that have passed through.
FIRE BEHAVIOR
Fire behavior has been reported as moderate with flanking, backing and group torching.
FIRE RESOURCES
There are 590 fire personnel assigned to this incident along with 12 handcrews, four dozers, 3 heavy and one light helicopters, two masticators, six feller-bunchers, four skidders and two skidgeons. Skidgeons are described as skidders with mounted water tanks.
Fire Management has been tasked by the Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team 9 or more commonly called NWIIMT 9.
Additionally, there are mutual aid units also attached to this incident which include:
* Blue Mountain Ranger District – 643, 671, crew 041, PV19, BC41
THREATS
Structures are threatened.
THROUGH THE EYES OF A FIRE MANAGER
“Fire is an integral part of Eastern Oregon forest ecosystems. Prior to fire exclusion policies, the average acre of Blue Mountains forests experienced fire every 20 years, for thousands of years.
Without periodic fire, the forest becomes choked with dead-and-downed wood, undergrowth, and small and unhealthy trees.
We are suppressing this fire to protect values at risk such as active timber sales and structures, but dead trees are not values at risk, and our intent is not to place firefighters in harm’s way to “protect” jackpots of dead lodgepole from being naturally recycled.” – 204 COW FIRE PIO
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
Total cost-to-date fire suppression and containment expenses have risen to $4.4 Million dollars.
ALERTS
Some local roads in the area are closed. Please check with the USFS online before going to the area.
There is a temporary flight restriction or commonly called a TFR to provide more airspace for firefighting aircraft to work. This also includes restrictions to other non-fire aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft Systems or (UAS), as well as drones.
For more information on the TFR issued by the FAA, please visit this link for details https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_9_9780.html?fbclid=IwAR30VwjghTqTJHrhrkZfdTRz1zbZC_ro5ONuvtDE2x8PywPNnQ6FbCLRCmM
FIRE IMAGES
All images in this Blog are the Credit of the United States Forest Service (USFS). We do not lie claim to them but are reposting them from our verified sources.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We are using the following hashtags for this wildfire: #ORwildfires #FireSeason2019 #204Fire
Thank you for reading our post. We would love it, if you joined our over 300-plus readership by following our Blog here. You can also find us on Twitter @nwfireblog Stay safe wherever you may go. – Ed.
ABOUT MALHEUR NATIONAL FOREST
The Malheur National is host to over 1.7 Million acres of forested areas in the Blue Mountains in the eastern portion of the State of Oregon (USA). Within the vast amount of lands, there is beautiful scenes of high desert grasslands, sage, juniper, pine, fir, other kinds of trees and with hidden alpine lakes and meadows.
(c) 2019 NW Fire Blog – Updated 8/30/2019 @ 2110 hours PDT
