EAGLE POINT, Ore. – The Worthington Fire is 75% contained as of Wednesday, Aug. 5. Fire behavior is mostly smoldering and creeping. Fire crews are working on mop-up to improve and strengthen the fire line, expanding and clearing the fire perimeter to 100’-150’ deep. Safety of the public and wildland firefighters is the number one priority, so crews continue to remove hazardous fire-weakened trees in transportation corridors. Fire crews were able to recover a significant amount of excess hose from the southwestern fire perimeter yesterday where it was no longer needed for fire suppression.
High temperature across the fire area Wednesday was forecast for 89 degrees, with low humidity and light winds in the afternoon.
The Incident Command Post is located at the Eagle Point Middle School. The team is requesting the public avoid the incident command post to protect firefighter and community health. The response to this fire is a coordinated effort of county, state, and federal partners, with most of the fire fighters being locals from the Rogue Valley. As the activity on this fire continues to decline, resources from the Worthington Fire are available to support other fires in the area.
All evacuations on the fire have been downgraded to a level 1 “BE READY” status. The Oregon Department of Forestry increased the official fire danger level to Extreme (red) on all state, private and county forestlands in Jackson and Josephine counties on July 31. The BLM and ODF ask the public to assist wildland firefighters by preventing human-caused wildfires, as human-caused wildfires often comprise more than 80 percent of all wildfire ignitions throughout the country.
Location: about 5 miles NE of Eagle Point
Start time: Approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 30.
Fuel type: forest and brush on private property and public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management
Size: 761 acres
Cause: Under investigation.
Containment: 75 percent
Personnel: 349
Crews: 14
Dozers: 5
Water tenders: 9
Helicopters: 2
Engines: 10