Sunday, August 27, 2023, 1230 PDT Fire Update

GRAY FIRE

Location: Medical Lake (Spokane), Washington
Incident#: WA-NES-001974
Started: 8/18/2023
Cause: Undetermined
Estimated Containment Date: 9/1/2023
IMT: NW Team 7 (LeFevre)

The GRAY FIRE has burned about 10,085 acres of timber, tall grass, and brush and is closed to be contained by fire personnel from the ground and air. It is currently being reported as 85% contained. It has destroyed about 240 homes and 86 other structures for a total of 326 to date. 40 homes and 11 minor structures have been damaged and 850 mixed residential continue to be threatened by the wildfire.

FIRE OFFICIALS: Heavy fire traffic continues in and around the Gray Fire area. Please be respectful as community members return to homes and property.

Yesterday’s Activities: Wildland fire crews continued to grid along the fire perimeter and within the interior to mop up remaining hotspots.

Wildland fire crews worked in conjunction with the City of Spokane, Spokane Regional Air Support Unit (SRASU), and DNR utilizing UAS (unmanned aircraft systems – drones) equipped with infrared technology to locate potential smoldering material around structures in the Riddle Hill area and the east side of Silver Lake. Wildland fire crews, working with the UAS crews, extinguished the discovered hot spots.

In the Clear Lake area, PalmIR units (a hand-held infrared tool used to locate smoldering material) also worked with fire crews around structures to locate and extinguish remaining smoldering material. A low-flying helicopter flight over the fire scar mapped initial attack suppression areas for potential rehabilitation.

Today’s Activities: Crews will continue patrolling, gridding, and extinguishing hotspots along and within the fire perimeter. Crews will continue to work in conjunction with SRASU, the City of Spokane, and DNR to utilize infrared-equipped UAS (drones) to locate smoldering material around structures, focusing on the Silver Lake area. The PalmIR units will continue to focus on the Clear Lake area.

Evacuations: Spokane County Emergency Management: https:;//www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt

I90: Open in both directions.

There are still a total of 523 personnel along with 2 dozers, 14 water tenders, 11 crews, 47 engines, and 1 helicopter.

Photo Credit: Ky Smith (Division Tango: mop-up operations, and working on the southern/eastern flank of the fire/south and east of I-90), USFS

OREGON ROAD FIRE / OREGON FIRE

THE COMMUNITY MEETING is tonight at 1700 hours. See the attached information in this post

Reported fire behavior has been reduced to minimal observed activity with creeping and smoldering. The fire has destroyed 126 homes and 258 outbuildings while damaging 14 other homes.

There have been 10,940 acres of timber burned. The fire has a 41% containment status on it and is expected to be fully contained on September 15th.

Per Officials: “The strategy remains full suppression as crews continue to improve containment lines, mop-up and suppression repair. The great amount of work completed with this strategy has allowed firefighters to begin the transition to patrol activities in portions of the east, west, and south flanks of the fire. Activities over the last 24 hours included drone flights over the north and east flank of the fire to determine where the remaining hot spots are.

Today’s activities: Firefighters have been extremely successful in their efforts to improve containment lines, mop-up around structures, and suppression repair. Crews will build upon their success over the next few days to continue this work throughout all divisions. Engines, hand crews, and specialized equipment will be active on the east flank of the fire perimeter as they work to establish hose lays supporting mop-up efforts. Air assets will remain attached to the incident supporting ground efforts as ordered.”

Evacuations: Evacuations: Level 1 and 2 evacuation zones remain in effect throughout the fire area. For updated evacuation maps of Spokane County are available here www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt and for evacuation maps of Pend Oreille County are here www.facebook.com/pocsheriff. The situation can change rapidly due to weather and other factors, please check these two sources of information regularly for the most up-to-date information. The evacuation center is currently located at Riverside High School 4120 E. Deer Park Milan Rd, Chattaroy, WA 99003. Spokane County has a new tool for pinpointing your address and its corresponding evacuation status: https://arcg.is/1z98v10.

There are 800 total personnel with 17 crews, 55 engines, and two copters.

CTD: $12.9 Million Dollars.

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