After several days of the Milepost 97 fire eating acreage at a rate of thousands of acres a day, authorities saw a slow in the fires advancement Sunday. The fire has grown to 11,668 acres adding just under 700 acres Sunday, and is only 10 percent contained.
“Today’s a great day for opportunity.” Those were the words from Link Smith to firefighters at this morning’s day shift briefing. Smith serves as the Incident Commander for the Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team overseeing the suppression effort.
The opportunity he is referring to is weather. A marine layer is expected to enter the area today, bringing with it cooler temperatures, some cloud cover, and elevated humidity. These conditions should allow fire crews closer access to the fire’s edge and the ability to perform burn out operations that removes forest fuels between established control lines and the main fire.
The fire continues to move at a slow pace on a southerly path, paralleling the freeway. Firefighters and aircraft are focusing much of the suppression effort on this south portion of the fire to prevent further spread towards communities. More than 500 structures are currently under level one, two and three (3 homes) evacuation notifications. Crews and equipment are also continuing to construct contingency control lines along ridges and existing road systems to the west of the fire.
Public and firefighter safety remains a top priority. Shortly after midnight last night a firefighter was struck by rolling debris. The firefighter was evaluated and treated on scene and transported by air to Rogue Valley Medi-cal Center for further evaluation and treatment. The firefighter was re-leased this morning.
The Milepost 97 fire currently has 48 hand crews totaling 1,044 firefighters assigned to the fire; 694 day shift and 350 night shift. , 41 Engines, 45 Dozers and 14 Water Tenders at the scene. In addition to ground resources, the fire is being attacked from the sky by 5 Type 1 Helicopters, 5 Type 2 Helicopters, 3 Type 3 Helicopters, and 2 SEATs. 586 structures are threatened and no structures have been damaged or destroyed.
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