Despite lower winds and a heavy smoke inversion that sat over the fire through most of the day, the Happy Camp/Slater fire was active Thursday. As of 8 p.m. September 10th, the wildfire has grown to an estimated 127,000 acres and is 0% contained.
On Thursday a cooler air mass pushed under the warmer air rising from the valley, creating an inversion layer. While the inversion layer made tracking the fire movement difficult, it helped reduce fire activity on the southwestern side of the fire allowing mandatory evacuations in Gasquet to be reduced to evacuation warnings.
On the Oregon side, structure protection continued in the communities of O’ Brien, Takilma, Browntown, and Cave Junction. Crews worked to put in contingency lines running northeast of O’Brien toward Holland to protect structures in the area and scouted for other opportunities.
On the California side, crews worked on constructing containment lines behind the airport in Happy Camp to better protect the community and focused on mopping up around structures.
The dry and unstable weather conditions in the fire area today are predicted to move out of the area, resulting in a more normal westerly flow. Relative humidity is expected to increase slightly over the next few days and rain is forecast next week. How much and the exact timing are still not very certain. There is a chance of measurable rain as early as Monday, especially for Del Norte County. Those probabilities increase everywhere on Tuesday.
A heat-detection flight Wednesday showed a second fire burning east of the Slater Fire, north of Upper Devil’s Peak on the Klamath National Forest. Estimated at 2000 acres this evening, the Devil Fire is currently unstaffed and uncontained. The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
With a record number of fires across the West, resources are stretched thin nationally. This resource shortage forces the incoming team to triage, and to develop a fire suppression strategy with what limited resources are available. Firefighters have been working non-stop since initial attack, with the available resources. Air resources will be utilized for reconnaissance and fire suppression as smoke and visibility permit.
Highway 199 remains closed from Pioneer Rd. just outside of Gasquet to O’Brien.
The Level 3 evacuation order for the community of Gasquet was lifted and lowered to level 2 as of 11:30am Thursday morning, September 10th. Gasquet will be open to residents only who should be prepared to show residential identification to continue pastand the Hwy. 199 closure at Pioneer Rd. The communities of Hiouchi and Big Flat remain under Level 1 evacuation status.
Evacuation Orders remain unchanged since Thursday and in effect for Happy Camp and Seiad Valley in California. In Oregon, Level 3 orders are in effect in the O’Brien and Takilma areas, Dick George Road (including most of Holland Loop) and Takilma Road areas, Brown Road, O’Brien and all areas south of Brown Road O’Brien.
