NW Team 12 expects containment to rise by end day Thursday
UNDERWOOD — The Tunnel 5 Fire had grown to 556 acres as of today, Thursday, July 6, and while containment continues at 5%, Northwest Incident Management Team 12 Incident Commander Bobby Shindelar said they expect that percentage to increase by the end of today’s shift.
“The firefighters are making great progress,” he said during a July 5 press conference held via the Southwest Washington Fire Information Facebook page. “One of the problems with the steepness of this terrain, we’re not able to get very far over the edge. It’s just too hazardous for the firefighters to work on the steep ground, and so containment will be slow.”
He added that, with the famous Gorge winds in play, there is also potential for embers to cross the established fireline. “If it lands in a receptive fuel bed, that could create problems for us,” he said. “So when we call for containment, we want to be confident that the fire is going to hold in place and not continue to spread.”
Because of the extremely steep terrain, aircraft are being utilized to drop water on the fire. There are also five hand crews, more than 40 fire engines and more than 350 firefighters assigned to the incident, he said. Currently, there are both day and night shifts; the night shifts will continue until additional containment is reached.
Priority has been given to protecting private residences and land, as well as critical infrastructure. Also important are natural resources, orchards and other agricultural interests, plant species, wildlife, the hatcheries, the railroad and highway corridors and impacts to local businesses.
Homes located on the north and east ends and along the highway corridor is where the team has put “the bulk of our firefighters,” Shindelar said, adding that they are protecting structures while also trying to suppress and stop the spread of the fire. They’ve additionally prepared structural protection plans for areas that aren’t directly adjacent to the fire “in the event that we do have a problem, that we are better prepared to deal with those situations,” he said.
SR-14 will remain closed between mileposts 56-65, as a number of firefighting resources are still working along the highway; there are also rolling debris and tree hazards that must be taken into consideration. Utility companies are working to repair powerlines, power poles and mitigating hazards to their infrastructure, he added.
Because of this, the recommendation is for the Evacuation Level 3 to remain in place for today, with another meeting scheduled this afternoon to reevaluate the situation.
“We will discuss reducing the Level 3 evacuation area — we are trying to open that up as quickly as we can,” Shindelar said. “We want to ensure that, with the increasing winds that are going to start occurring [July 6], that we have good containment on the fire edge … If we’re trying to do evacuations at the same time that we’re trying to do our firefighting efforts, it creates a hazard not only for the public but for the firefighters.”
Mary Wister, incident meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Pendleton, said there are forecast challenges over the next five to seven days — primarily, the winds.
“We’ve been experiencing an east wind the last two or three days, and it’s been hot — today [July 5] has been the hottest day of the week in the upper 90s to around 100 … humidity was just around 10%,” Wister said. “We’re starting to see a shift in the winds; starting tonight, Thursday and into the weekend, the winds are going to come from the west and they’re going to be gusty.”
The main challenge for the rest of the week will be those gusty westerly winds. Otherwise, warm and dry conditions are expected, with temperatures slightly cooler and relative humidity beginning to increase. Wind gusts 25-30 mph are expected through this afternoon and evening, July 6.
“The bad news is the winds, and of course winds can always be problems for fires," Wister said.
Shindelar said the fire is still under investigation. Anyone with footage of the start of the Tunnel 5 Fire on July 2 should contact the Northwest Team 12 at 971-800-0411 or 2023.tunnelfive@firenet.gov.
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