A community meeting has been announced for Saturday, July 22nd, at the Gold Beach High School cafeteria at 29516 Elllensburg Ave., in Gold Beach, Ore., at 3:00pm.
The U.S. Forest Services Saturday morning Flat Fire update included a current acreage update after Friday evenings infra-red imaging giving a better look at the fires growth since Thursday. The Fire, now covering more than 18,463 total acres, slowing considerably these past 2 days, averaging 1,623 per day since Thursday’s last infrared imaging.
The southeast front of the fire has not been very active in the past few days, as with other areas of the fire that fire crews have performed burnouts ahead of the fire front line, keeping fire behavior moderate and lower in intensity as crews to the northeast continue to clear snags and help create access to the fire itself.
Overnight crews performed burnout operations on the western front of the fire while securing and monitoring fire lines. With marine air moving into the area, the cooler temperatures and higher humidity have made fire activity more moderate with these conditions forecast to continue through Friday.
Fire crews took advantage of the cooler conditions pushing onshore over the past 36 hours securing, strengthening and creating new fire lines to slow and control the growth of the blaze and protect the communities of both Agness and Gold Beach.
Currently the U.S. Forest Service has deployed 25 Engines, 32 crews, 1,040 firefighters, 7 bulldozers, 11 water tenders and 10 helicopters, and 8 masticators, used to grind or chew woody debris into one to two inch pieces leaving behind chipped woody debris and air resources continue to be utilized as conditions and visibility allow while additional resources continue to arrive to strengthen and create new firelines while looking for opportunities to use existing roads and bodies of water as natural fire breaks.
The Fire is expected to continue burning south towards the head of Lawson Creek. The south and east side of the fire will continue with short uphill runs and flanking fire with minimal spread to the north towards Agness. The fire will continue to burn aggressively along Wildhorse Ridge on the west side of the fire and continue burning south towards the head of Lawson Creek. The south and east side of the fire are expected to continue with short uphill runs and flanking fire.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation notice from Agness to Quosatana Creek. Curry County is sending evacuation notices utilizing Everbridge, which provides notices via phone. If you have not done so, please sign up by going to the Curry County website and click on the Everbridge notification link. https://www.co.curry.or.us/departments/emergency_management/index.php
The Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest has issued a closure order for the fire area including trails, roads, and a portion of the Illinois River and fire restrictions issued Monday also remain in place.
A community meeting has been announced for Saturday, July 22nd, at the Gold Beach High School cafeteria at 29516 Elllensburg Ave., in Gold Beach, Ore., at 3:00pm.
