Elbow Creek Fire Evening Update July 17, 2021

 Type 1 Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team (IC Link Smith)

InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7672/

Fire Update: Saturday, July 17, 2021 – 8 p.m.

Fire information: The Elbow Creek Fire is currently estimated at 11,000 acres and 0% contained. The fire is located in the Grande Ronde River drainage near Mud Springs, approximately 31 miles southeast of Walla Walla, Washington. The fire is burning on both sides of the Grande Ronde River and is on or threatening Umatilla National Forest lands, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest lands, Vale District Bureau of Land Management lands and Oregon Department of Forestry protected lands. Tonight, the local agencies in-briefed the Type 1 Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team and the Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) Blue team in Wallowa.

The Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office has issued updated evacuation areas surrounding the fire area (see map). Additional information regarding evacuations is available by monitoring the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office Facebook.

Closures are also in place surrounding the fire. Due to fire activity on both sides of the Grande Ronde River corridor, the river is closed at Minam State Park. Any rafters that arrive into the fire area will be safely evacuated in coordination with Wallowa County Search and Rescue. Due to extreme wildfire activity and the concern for the safety of the public the entirety of the Umatilla National Forest has been temporarily closed.

The Type 1 Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team will take command of the Elbow Creek Fire tomorrow, July 18 at approximately 6 a.m.

Closures: The Umatilla National Forest is currently closed.  For more information visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/umatilla.  Use https://tripcheck.com/ for road conditions updates.

Information locations:

Facebook: Elbow Creek Fire https://www.facebook.com/Elbow-Creek-Fire-111831811176114

Facebook: Wallowa County Sheriffs Office https://www.facebook.com/Wallowa-County-Sheriffs-Office-147212815486187

Facebook: Oregon State Fire Marshal Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal - Home | Facebook

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