Wilson Prairie Fire Evening Update - July 26, 2018

A Community Meeting is planned for Friday, July 27^th at 5:00 pm at the Heppner City Hall at 111 North Main Street.  Fire managers will provide a fire update with maps and an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of the presentations. All are welcome to attend.

Special Announcements:

Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team 8, Incident Commander, Doug Johnson, assumed management of the Wilson Prairie Fire this morning at 6:00 am.  The fire is burning in timber and grass on private lands, protected by Oregon Department of Forestry, and the Umatilla National Forest.  The incident command post (ICP) and helibase are located at the Morrow County Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Park northeast of Spray, Oregon.

The Morrow County OHV Park and Campground is currently open, however some trails may be impacted by the fire activity.  Please observe all trail and area closures.

Acreage: 437; a helicopter flight of the fire boundary yesterday provided a clear view of the perimeter for the first time, resulting in a more accurate acreage of the fire size.

Containment: 30%

Fire Information: Christie Shaw, Oregon Department of Forestry, 541-263-0661 or Darcy Weseman, Umatilla National Forest 541-278-3722  Available 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Information Websites: Inciweb – https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6028

 ODF Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ODFCentralOregon/.

Current Fire Information: Two helicopters assisted firefighters with water drops to cool hotspots along the established fire perimeter on the southwest and slow the fire burning down into the south and southeast corner. Additionally, firefighters made improvements to the fireline in preparation for a burnout operation this evening.  The objective of a burnout is to reduce fuels between the fireline and the fire, widening and securing the line.  Tonight, firefighters will wait for favorable conditions to begin the burnout activity.

Resources:  Total personnel assigned – 367:  3-type 2 IA hand crews, 11-type 2 hand crews, 2- medium helicopters, 1- light helicopter, 12-engines, 6-dozers, 7-water tenders, 2–faller modules, and 3-skidgens. Additional resources have been ordered and continue to arrive.

Weather:  Tonight will be clear with temperatures forecasted for 59 - 62 degrees and a relative humidity of 35 - 40%.  Winds will be 6 - 12 mph from the northwest in the evening and down canyon later during the night of 2 – 5 mph.

Closures: The Umatilla National Forest implemented a Forest Closure including a large area, trail and road closure within the vicinity of Bull Prairie Lake and the Wilson Prairie area.  A map and detailed description of the area closure is available at any Umatilla National Forest office and on Inciweb.

Closure Description: Starting at State Highway 207 at its junction with the Forest Boundary in T7S, R25E, Section 3, South to Forest Service Road (FSR) 24, then follow FSR 24 east to its junction with FSR 23, then follow FSR 23 east to FSR 2128, then follow FSR 2128 north to the Forest Boundary at T7S, R26 Section 2, then following the Forest Boundary west to State Highway 207.

In addition, the following roads are closed:

• National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2039000 - From the Junction of Highway 207 easterly to Morrow County Road Wilson Creek Road 732 - 5.0 miles.
• National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2000350 - From the Junction of Highway 207, easterly to National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2039000 – 4.6 miles.
• National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2307000 - From the Junction of National Forest System  Road 2300000,  northeasterly to Bull Prairie Campground National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2300000 – 8.5 miles
• National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2307035 - From the Junction of National Forest System  Road 2307000, north to Bull Prairie Campground National Forest System Road (NFSR) 2039030 – 0.8 miles.

The weather forecast for the region is a continued hot and dry trend with poor humidity recovery.  Please follow restrictions to limit potential human wildfire ignitions.

• Regulated Closure is in effect for ODF’s Central Oregon District.  Specific restrictions, intended to reduce human caused fires, can be found at www.ODFcentraloregon.com and on the Inciweb site listed above.  
• Phase B of the Public Use Restrictions (PURS) for the Umatilla National Forest are scheduled for implementation at 12:01 am on Friday, July 27, 2018, tonight.  For more information regarding these and other restrictions on the Umatilla National Forest visitwww.bmidc.org

                                                                                   

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