The
Horse Prairie Fire was reported this morning as 15 percent contained. The fire’s
size has grown to an estimated 750 acres. The fire started Saturday afternoon
15 miles northwest of Canyonville, burning in logging slash, stands of young
trees and second-growth timber. Both private industrial forest lands and
Bureau of Land Management forests are affected. No homes are currently
threatened.
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| Above: Northwest winds are pushing the Horse Prairie Fire south and east into more rugged terrain. |
One
factor in the fire’s sudden growth was attributed to late detection because of
the thick layer of smoke that has blanketed the valley from other fires in the
area. Once detected, the fire had already grown to about 40 acres and was
moving rapidly through logging debris, timber and felled and bucked logs. DFPA
and fire crews from multiple agencies, industrial landowners and logging
companies, worked non-stop Saturday night constructing hand and dozer lines in
an effort to minimize fire spread.
lines along the north and west sides of the fire are holding. The fire is now
being pushed by northwest winds to the south and east into steep, rugged
terrain in the Table Creek drainage. High temperatures, low humidity and
sustained northwest winds continue to challenge suppression efforts in that
steep, roadless area.
Incident Management Team 3 (Link Smith Incident Commander) has been in place
since Sunday to assist the Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA) and its
cooperators. The incident command post is located at Camas Valley, eight miles
southeast of the fire.
are at a premium due to the many fires burning throughout the Pacific
Northwest. Even so, the team is working diligently through the regional
multi-agency coordination group to bring in additional firefighters, aircraft
and equipment.
over the weekend prevented air tankers and large type 1 helicopters from
flying. However, six Type-2 helicopters with 300-plus gallon water buckets
moved over the fire in rotation, but could not keep up with the rapid spread of
the fire.
stay current on any changes in fire activity, follow the fire on social media at
Facebook.com/horseprairiefire or on the national incident reporting site known
as Inciweb.