JACKSON & JOSEPHINE COUNTIES, Ore. (July 16, 2025)—Fire lines across the Grizzly Complex are holding strong as firefighters work to finalize containment and extinguish remaining hot spots. The overall containment across the complex reached 58%, with all fires individually at least 50% contained. Over half of the fires reached 90% or more containment and are being actively patrolled for potential flare-ups, although none have been found to date.
Tonight, overnight crews will continue using handheld infrared (IR) cameras to locate hot spots and ensure the perimeter areas are free of fire and heat. Tomorrow, continued progress is expected, with day crews aiming to complete 300 feet of mop-up into the fire perimeters, extinguishing all fire or heat throughout these areas. This progress will allow repair work to begin and enable some resources to be released from the fire line. Initial attack resources from ODF CIMT 3 remain ready to respond to any new flare-ups or fire starts in the area alongside the ODF Southwest Oregon District. Some smoke may still be visible from the center of fire perimeters.
On Monday, July 7, a thunderstorm moved into southern Oregon, bringing more than 1,300 lightning strikes to Jackson and Josephine counties. Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Southwest Oregon District dispatch centers were immediately flooded with calls of reported fires; by midnight, more than 50 reports of fires had been taken and recorded, and firefighters were engaged in an aggressive initial attack on numerous incidents. Resources made quick work of a number of fires, including the Pompadour Fire in the hills east of Ashland. Firefighters were able to stop its growth and fully build a line around its perimeter at 38 acres, protecting numerous homes in the area.
Due to the amount of reports, a large number of fires were called in multiple times from residents viewing the same fire in different locations; with these complexities added onto the fast paced and massive workload on ODF Southwest’s dispatchers and firefighters, 72 fires were initially reported in Jackson and Josephine counties on ODF-protected land. District staff worked around the clock on these incidents, dispatching resources to new fires, flying numerous reconnaissance flights daily and monitoring strike areas across the district to determine fire locations and status, allocating resources to the incidents where they were most needed and strategizing where the next need would be.
ODF Complex Incident Management Team 3 (CIMT 3) was ordered Tuesday afternoon and took command of 22 of the fires the following morning, with the Oregon Southwest District continuing an aggressive attack on the remaining fires in Jackson and Josephine counties, while continuing to respond to new reports of human-caused fires; since Monday’s thunderstorm, the ODF Southwest Oregon District has responded to and extinguished an additional 13 human-caused fires on top of the lighting starts, the largest being caught immediately at 12 acres.
With mapping, reconnaissance flights, detection center scans, and firefighters ground truthing all reports, the district has responded to 52 fires since last Monday. Between the work from ODF CIMT 3 and the ODF Southwest Oregon District, all fires are now 100% lined and mostly, if not entirely, mopped up. All fires were caught at 250 acres or less, with the majority in the range of 1/10 of an acre to 10 acres in size.
All of these fires were stopped due to the collective work of firefighters from across local, state and federal agencies. These partnerships between organizations in southern Oregon played a large role in the success of these incidents. ODF CIMT 3, ODF Southwest Oregon District and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Medford District would like to extend a thank-you to the U.S. Forest Service Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, CALFIRE, Ashland Fire & Rescue, Jackson County Fire District #5, Greensprings Rural Fire District, Colestin Rural Fire Protection District, Applegate Valley Fire District, Williams Fire Rescue, Grants Pass Fire Rescue, Jackson County Fire District 1, Rural Metro Fire, Illinois Valley Fire District, Lake Creek Fire District, Jackson County Fire District 3, Medford Fire Department, Jacksonville Fire Department, Jackson County Fire District 4, Prospect Rural Fire Protection District and Butte Falls Volunteer Fire and Rescue. We would also like to recognize Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Emergency Management, Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, Josephine County Emergency Management, Oregon Department of Transportation, Pacific Power and Light, Jackson County Roads and numerous other entities that have responded alongside us and contributed to the overall success of these fires. Additionally, thank you to the communities that we serve; your support during these incidents has been seen and greatly appreciated by all firefighters.
Slight chances of thunderstorms remain in the forecast for this evening and tomorrow, along with hot temperatures, low humidity and wind. These conditions naturally increase fire risk and contribute to fire growth; help prevent the next wildfire by following all local regulations, found here: https://swofire.com/public-fire-restrictions/. As the weekend approaches, please be aware of the fire risks and recreate safely: https://www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/oregon-washington/fire-restrictions
Level 1 – Be Ready evacuation notices remain in place for zones JAC-542, JAC-558, and Zone JAC-536. For the latest updates on evacuations, visit: https://protect.genasys.com. All lanes on Interstate 5 are now open, but firefighters are still working in the area. Please be aware and use caution when traveling near any fire zones.
Aircraft remain on standby, and drone use near fires is both illegal and extremely dangerous to pilots working on incidents. If you fly, we can’t. All illegal drone use will be reported to law enforcement.
This will be the final update on these incidents unless conditions significantly change. For more fire information, visit the district’s Facebook page, @ODFSouthwest or website, www.swofire.com.
Current status of the fires under ODF CIMT3 Incident Management:
All fires listed below are confirmed lightning-caused, are 100% lined and in various stages of mop up or repair. Crews are focusing on extinguishing hot spots along fire perimeters and may reassign resources to other fires in the region.