Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
There was good news this week on the fire front. The Slate Fire, which had burned more than 90 acres about 5 miles southwest of Detroit, has been contained, according to the incident command team.
Containment of the fire is at 99 percent, fire officials said, with the plan for the next several days to have crews continue to patrol and secure the fire perimeter where needed. The Slate Fire, which was reported July 23 and likely was human caused, was employing 65 firefighting personnel at its peak.
Meanwhile, a little further south, about 15 miles from Detroit Lake, the much larger Pyramid Fire continues to burn, but crews are starting to make progress on it.
The fire just east of the Middle Santiam Wilderness has consumed 1,328 acres since it was sparked by lightning on July 17, but containment had risen to 31 percent by The Canyon Weekly’s press time.
More than 350 firefighters are on the scene, according to incident commanders. The fire crews are split into a pair of divisions, with one focusing on securing a perimeter and the second removing standing dead trees in an effort to hold the perimeter.
Incident commanders also announced Wednesday that moving forward, the Pyramid, Slate and Ore fires will be collectively referred to as the North Zone of the Willamette Complex. The Ore Fire at The Canyon Weekly presstime had burned 2,221 acres and was at 29 percent containment. The fire, which sparked July 17 via an unknown cause is approximately 7 miles northeast of Blue River.
In other fire updates:
Willamette National Forest: Campfires continue to be banned throughout the 1.6 million-acre forest through Nov. 30 because of the extreme fire danger.
SNAP benefits: Linn County residents who had to throw away food purchased via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, can request to replace those benefits to purchase new food. The deadline for Linn County residents to act is Aug. 16. For information on the process go to https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/food/pages/snap-replacement.aspx#disaster, call (800) 699-9075 or email [email protected].
Town Gulch: Governor Tina Kotek invoked the emergency conflagration act for the Town Gulch Fire in Baker County. The fire is burning in timber and steep, rocky terrain with temperatures in the mid-90s.
The fire sparked on Monday eight miles northwest of Richland and quickly grew. On Tuesday, the fire grew significantly and started threatening structures, prompting the conflagration act.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office has issued “go now” Level 3 evacuations for areas around the Town Gulch Fire, whose size and containment were not known at presstime.
Elk Lane: Governor Kotek also invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the Elk Lane Fire in Jefferson County. The move came following a request made by the local fire defense board and was approved by the state. According to Jefferson County Fire District 1, the region was hit by a massive lightning storm earlier this week that brought gusty winds and sparked the Elk Lane Fire. The fire, near Madras, was estimated to be roughly 5,600 acres at pressstime with 0 percent containment. acres. Officials have ordered “go now” Level 3 evacuations in the region.
