The Flat Fire, now charring more than 32,732 total acres, grew 1,261 acres since Friday with authorities reporting 30% containment. The second Incident Management Team arrived at the scene Thursday, was inbriefed on the fire history, current status and firefighting strategies and assumed command of the incident on Saturday morning, August 5th at 6:00am.
The U.S. Forest Service currently has deployed 997 total personnel, 41 Engines, 16 crews, 1 bulldozers, 27 water tenders, 9 helicopters, and 4 masticators, used to grind or chew woody debris into one to two inch pieces leaving behind chipped woody debris.
A variety fuels including brush, grass and timber continue to dry and be consumed by the blaze as localized winds in the burn area push the fire through patches of fuel, creating hotspots that are being monitored by infrared detection cameras and quickly extinguished by fire crews.
Bucket drops from helicopters continue to secure the containment line in efforts to reduce heat in the north fork of Indigo Creek. Structure protection resources continue scouting for and identifying additional homes and buildings and are collecting data to aid firefighters in protecting structures if there is a future need and a helitack crew was inserted near Fantz Ranch on the eastern edge of the fire to address areas of heat identified through infrared imaging and mitigate hazardous trees.
In the Lawson Creek drainage and the Game Lake areas, additional aerial burning to reduce unburned fuel within the fire perimeter continues, with seasonally hot temperatures, low relative humidities and dry vegetation expected with a drier air mass moving over the area through the week.
Air resources continue to be utilized as conditions and visibility allow and additional resources continue to arrive and to strengthen and create new firelines while looking for opportunities to use existing roads and bodies of water as natural fire breaks.
All remaining evacuation levels were reduced to Level 1 “Get Ready” evacuation status for all areas in the vicinity of the Flat Fire as of Monday, July 31st. The Curry County Sheriff’s Office will continue to coordinate with the Fire Incident Management Team and will notify all residents affected by the fire of any reasons to change evacuation levels. Curry County is using Everbridge to send evacuation notices. You can sign up for notifications here: https://www.co.curry.or.us/departments/emergency_management/index.php
Fire danger is currently extreme and Fire Restrictions are in place. the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Fores is implementing Level 2 Public Use Restrictions beginning today, August 4th. More information can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ueuznr6e .fs.usda.gov/rogue-siskiyou
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office will continue to coordinate with the Fire Incident Management Team and will notify all residents affected by the fire of any reasons to change evacuation levels. Curry County is using Everbridge to send evacuation notices. You can sign up for notifications here: https://www.co.curry.or.us/departments/emergency_management/index.php
