The Bootleg fire, northeast of Klamath Falls, began July 6 and was marked by dramatic growth during the first several days of the blaze, doubling its size for several consecutive days. The explosive spread was fueled by bone-dry fuels, high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.
Many of those factors have eased over the past few days, with temperatures dropping slightly, winds dying down and even a splash of rain over some parts of the fire line, said Marcus Kauffman, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Containment was up to 38% by Thursday morning, a bump of 6 percentage points from Wednesday, and some evacuation orders were eased in Lake County on the fire’s eastern flank.
“Fire crews and support personnel have made significant progress in containing this fire in the last few days,” Joe Prummer, an incident commander working the blaze, said in a statement. “However, we still have a long road ahead of us to ensure the safety of the surrounding communities.”
Milder weather helps firefighters in a number of ways. Without hot days and strong winds, crews are able to fight the blaze directly, getting right up to the fire line to work on suppressing the flames. When the weather is not in their favor, they are often forced to dig containment lines far in front of the fire and left to hope they hold if the blaze is whipped in that direction.
“Crews and equipment are going direct along the eastern fireline while also working to improve contingency lines between the fire and the communities near Summer Lake as well as provide structure protection for those homes,” officials said in a statement. “There was some slight growth to the northeast, however dozer crews were able to stop that progression and crews will work to hold that today.”
The Bootleg fire prompted an air quality advisory in Klamath and Lake counties that was expected to last into early next week, but it was just one of nearly 80 wildfires burning in the U.S., the vast majority of them in the West. Smoke from those fires had traveled across the country, bringing poor air quality to cities along the eastern seaboard.
THE JACK FIRE
Location: Along Oregon 138 east of Roseburg in Douglas County
First reported: July 5
Size: 19,352 acres
Containment: 55%
Evacuations: A map of current evacuation orders can be found here.
Damage: Four people have been injured in the fire. More than 130 structures were threatened, but it was unclear how many had been damaged or destroyed.
Conditions: Firefighters expect a warming trend to begin Thursday with slightly higher temperatures than the past few days.
THE BRULER FIRE
Location: About 8 miles south of Detroit Lake
First reported: July 12
Size: 195 acres
Containment: 12%
Evacuations: None
Damage: None
Conditions: “A warming and drying trend will commence starting on Thursday as high pressure over the Great Basin begins to expand to the Northwest,” fire managers said. “Temperatures are expected to rise into the 80s by Saturday with humidity dropping.”
THE ELBOW CREEK FIRE
Location: Along the Grande Ronde River in northeast Oregon about 30 miles southeast of Walla Walla, Washington .
First reported: July 15
Size: 18,599 acres
Containment: 20%
Evacuations: Details on current evacuations can be found on the Wallowa County Government Facebook page.
Damage: About five homes were threatened, down from 150 earlier in the week.
Conditions: “Continued sunny and warm, but drier,” fire officials said Thursday. “Afternoon winds will be out of the northeast.”
— Kale Williams ; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
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