The weather smiled on the firefighters Monday, and allowed just enough drying for crews to accomplish more than four miles of burnout along the S-210 Road at the southernmost boundary of the Shaniko Butte Fire. Conditions on the rest of the fire, however, were just damp enough that fire activity was minimal.
The remaining two miles of dozer line is located on a steep ridge that drops down to the Skookum Creek drainage from the top of the Mutton Mountains.
When weather allows, firefighters are hoping to complete the remainder of their suppression strategy by burning out the fuels immediately east of the 2-mile dozer line.
The meteorologist working with the incident management team, Frederic Bunnag, is calling for a couple of days of wet weather, and then some quick drying, maybe reaching 100 degrees in the Warm Springs area by Sunday afternoon. Any thunderstorms in the area on Tuesday or Wednesday, he says, will be associated with rainfall.
The three aircraft assigned to this Incident Management Team do not include the four National Guard Helicopters at the Madras Airport. Oregon Team #1 manages the helibase where the National Guard helicopters are stationed, but the two Chinooks and two Blackhawks are assigned to another fire complex – the Logging Unit Fires. The National Guard ships, however, are available to go wherever the need is greatest in this geographic area.
The Level 2 Notification for residences near Dant has been fully removed, as has the Level 1 Notification for residences along Road S-300 near Simnasho. Under the authority of the Wasco County Sheriff, residences in the Kaskella area will temporarily remain on a Level 1 Notification because of the recent burnout operation immediately to their west.
Line medics responded to a bee sting injury on Sunday, calling for an ambulance to transport a crew member suffering a severe allergic reaction. The firefighter has recovered and returned to work.
Fire at a Glance
Size: 42,500 acres
Containment: 75%
Location: 15 miles north of the town of Warm Springs, Oregon
Cause: Started by lightning on Sunday, July 13, 2014
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