The Happy Camp/Slater Fire added over 23,800 acres of growth in the past 24 hours and now sits at 140,802 total acres. These total acreage numbers include the Devil Fire, located north of Upper Devil’s Peak. The Happy Camp/Slater Fire is estimated at 136,310 acres and the Devil Fire is estimated at 4,488 acres. Both fires are still zero percent contained.
With the lack of the strong easterly winds experienced the previous days, the fire was less active. Fire movement was more terrain and fuels driven versus the wind driven activity of the previous days. There was some group tree torching, with backing and flanking observed.
Even though humidity levels increased slightly Friday under the heavy smoke inversion, crews were still unable to fly due to smoke conditions. However, crews were able to scout opportunities for containment to the north and fire managers were able to establish a line around Happy Camp and focus on mopping up and securing structures.
In the Gasquet area, the fire is backing slowly downhill in the area of Washington Peak. Crews worked to identify places to build primary and contingency fire lines, and will begin working on those lines as soon as resources become available.
Equipment and crews were able to build approximately 18 miles of direct and indirect line along the northwestern edges of the Happy Camp/Slater Fire and in the Holland Loop area, a dozer line has been constructed to protect the structures, and the fire is still some distance from those structures.
Fireline has been completed around the community of O’Brien, and the area has suffered no additional structure losses today. In the northwest portion of the fire near Waldo, crews were able to get out in front and begin building containment lines. The Wild Rivers Ranger District currently has 150 local firefighters assigned to the Slater Fire that are working along the Highway 199 corridor.
Firefighters also made progress assessing and building fireline along the west edge of the fire which the active fire’s edge is expected to reach. Evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings on Elk Creek Road, however, the community of Happy Camp remains under mandatory evacuation order.
Relative humidity is expected to continue climbing, aiding fire managers in suppression efforts. With higher fuel moistures and light variable winds, the fire is anticipated to be more terrain driven. Winds out of the east have caused smoke impacts from the Happy Camp/Slater and Devil Fires that have extended over to the coast and smoke continues to impact most of the west coast due to multiple large fires.
As of late Friday evening the Level 3 evacuation order for the community of Gasquet was lifted and lowered to level 2 as of 11:30am Thursday morning, and remains in tact. Gasquet will be open to residents only who should be prepared to show residential identification to continue past the Hwy. 199 closure at Pioneer Rd.
The communities of Hiouchi and Big Flat remain under Level 1 evacuation status and Level 3 orders are in effect in the O’Brien and Takilma areas including Dick George Road, most of Holland Loop, Takilma Road areas, Brown Road, and all areas south of Brown Road O’Brien. Level 2 orders are in effect south of Kerby and Cave Junction to the Hayes Hill areas in Oregon.
