Saturday, September 9th, started off with clouds, smoke, and fog that existed over the fire area through mid to late morning before eroding away completely by midday. Again, infra-red flights have not been able to capture some of the areas outer perimeter due to clouds or areas that are not showing heat due to rainfall and time between infra-red flights. Due to more accurate intelligence from ground resources, the fire is sitting at 182,284 acres, an increase of 4,591 acres, with no increase of containment which stands at 5%.
Sunny skies prevailed over the remainder of the day and no precipitation fell. Temperatures were about 4 to 8 degrees warmer than the previous day with highs in the low 70s to 80s.
As dry air moved into the region, afternoon relative humidity lowered into the 40 to 60 percent range. Officials are predicting more noticeable warming and drying to take place Sunday through Monday with poor humidity recoveries Sunday night.
Gusty northeast winds will also exist during this time period. Smoke is likely to increase in and around the fire area as well.
Smoldering and creeping fires are stalled with little perimeter movement on the west side as higher relative humidity recoveries in the lower elevations have moderated fire behavior. There will be some surface spread on the East side in the heavier fuel concentrations where recoveries are reduced. Overall lower fire spread occurred in the lower elevations, while higher elevations may see a little increase in activity.
Larger vegetation remains dry, and residents should be aware that as temperatures rise and humidity levels drop again over the next 72 hours, fire activity will pick up. Areas where little activity occurred yesterday may hide burning roots and when winds increase and humidity levels drop the possibility that the fire will spread to nearby receptive fine fuels like grasses, leaves and small twigs, still exists.
As humidity levels begin to drop and temperatures begin to rise, vegetation will dry out over the next 24 to 48 hours. Hazards faced by firefighters in the current conditions include access to wet areas with steep slopes with dirt roads and trees. These areas weakened by fire, are more susceptible to falling as wet soils loosen their hold on root systems.
Today strengthening of containment lines combined with opportunities to move in closer to the fire perimeter will be utilized in attempts to take full advantage of the moderate weather and reduce potential impacts to nearby private lands. Firefighters will continue to remove brush and vegetation along containment and contingency lines while ensuring that hoselays are in place and functioning properly. Ongoing efforts include patrols for spot fires, and extinguishing areas of heat within spot fires. Fireline construction, and where containment lines have been secured by mop-up, fireline repair work and re-contouring lines will be made in efforts to mitigate water runoff.
In the East Zone of the Chetco Bar Fire, implementation of structure protection in Josephine Oak Flats, Store Gulch, McCalebs Ranch and Footbridge will continue. Crews will open previous lines from the Biscuit Fire with heavy equipment and coordinate their efforts with local Forest Service and ODF resources to develop a plan for containment of the fire on the east edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.
Curry County Sheriff and Josephine County officials will continue to monitor evacuation levels while the Oregon State Fire Marshal Task Force continues structure evaluation and preparation.
As of this update, all previous evacuation levels remain unchanged and intact. This includes a Level 3 evacuation order for all residents on Illinois River Road within the US Forest Service Boundaries and the Oak Flat Community.
The Chetco Bar Incident Management Team, and Curry County Sheriff have reduced some Level 3 Evacuation areas to Level 2 Evacuation’s within Curry County. Only residents and land owners are allowed to enter the previous Level 3 Evacuation Areas.
These Areas include:
• Pistol River Road
• Carpenterville Road
• North Bank Chetco River Road to the established fire perimeter
• Gardner Ridge Road to the established fire perimeter
• South Bank Chetco River Road
Residents must pick up the re-entry materials from 11am to 4 pm at Ray’s Market 906 Chetco Ave in Brookings, Oregon. All residents that live in these geographic areas are asked to present their picture ID to Curry County Sheriff’s Office Staff to receive re-entry materials. Residents and land owners will need to present the materials received from the Sheriff’s Office at their established re-entry point.
Residents should remain prepared to evacuate in a moment’s notice in the event the evacuation levels change and residents should not return any large animal’s home at this time. Fire and emergency resources will continue to be active in the areas and road systems. Please drive slowly and be aware of additional traffic in the Level 2 Evacuation area.
The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation is now operating a shelter at The Xaa-wan’-k’wvt Village & Resort (old Ship Ashore) RV Park located at 12370 Highway 101 North in Smith River.
Residents are encouraged to monitor the interactive evacuation map for changes: http://arcg.is/2vWQN2N