The Friday, September 15th Chetco Bar Fire update had residents waking up to smokey skies and continued moderate growth of almost 2,500 acres in the active northwest perimeter near Snow Camp Mountain. The fire now sits at 188,047 total acres since July 12th, and crews have worked at containment lines now extending to 38%. Smoke impacts continue to be light to moderate in communities surrounding the fire but overall, air quality has improved.
Full sunshine existed over the fire area Friday, but temperatures were 5 to 10 degrees cooler than Thursday. Drier air aloft resulted in lower relative humidities than yesterday with values down into the 15 to 25 percent range. Higher relative humidities existed in the lower sheltered valleys. Winds were generally terrain driven, but ridge-tops did see north-northwest winds gust into the 10 to 15 mph range.
Sunshine on Friday will lead to warmer and drier conditions over the fire area with generally terrain driven winds. Slightly cooler temperatures and higher humidities are expected on Saturday as clouds will be on the increase. This trend will continue into Sunday with increasing chances for rain late in the day and especially Sunday night.
Crews continue to improve direct dozer line and handlines while The Oregon National Guard will begin back-haul of equipment and other suppression related materials.
Continued improvement to road systems with mastication and hand crews combined with backfire operations will continue along the constructed dozer lines. Crews work to secure fire spread to the north in the Pistol Creek drainage by tying into the Pistol Creek drainage through direct attack operations utilizing cold trail and line construction along the fire edge with aerial support as needed. Teams continue to monitor and patrol the black edge of the fire and suppress spot fires.
In the Josephine Oak Flats, Store Gulch, McCalebs Ranch and Footbridge areas structure protection and direct and indirect lines in the Illinois River area are being taken care of by crews as they continue to open previous lines from the Biscuit Fire with heavy equipment and crews.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office, working in cooperation with local fire departments, law enforcement agencies and the Chetco Bar Unified Command issued a modified Evacuation Order, effective 4:00 pm, September 13, 2017. This order applies only to those areas affected by the previous Chetco Bar Fire evacuation order.
Level 1 Evacuation Area Information:
The following areas are under a Level 1 Evacuation:
• Southern Curry County line at the sea front, north to the Pistol River area, including:
• Carpenterville Road and all intersecting roads east and west
• Gardner Ridge Road from the intersection of North Bank to Palmer View Road
• North Bank Chetco Road to Loeb Park, and
• South Bank Chetco Road to the Salmon Run Golf Course
Level 2 Evacuation Area Information:
The following areas are under a Level 2 Evacuation:
• East above Peavine Road in the Winchuck Drainage
• South Bank of the Chetco above Salmon Run Golf Course
• North Bank of the Chetco above Loeb Park to include Wilderness Retreat
• Garner Ridge Road above Palmer Butte to include Cate and Hazel Camp Areas
Level 3 Evacuation Area Information:
There are no Level 3 Evacuation order in effect in Curry County.
Residents in the affected areas will see changes in location and staffing of traffic control points staffed by the National Guard in the coming days. These changes are made to reflect modifications to evacuation orders for these areas.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office requests that traffic in the affected areas be limited to residents, essential services, and those engaged in fire suppression and recovery operations. For more information contact Chetco Fire Information at 619-894-9111.
Forest Service Chetco Bar Fire Area Closures remain in effect. For more information on the Forest Service Closure visit: Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest Closure – Chetco Bar Fire Order No. 06-10-26-17-28:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd557210.pdf