North Pelican A.M. Fire Update
The North Pelican Fire is still estimated at 1,200 acres with 5% containment. Close to 150 firefighters and supporting overhead are currently assigned to the fire.
The Fremont-Winema National Forest has implemented an Area Closure. This Order closes portions of the forest around the incident to all vehicle and pedestrian entry. This includes the Cold Springs Trailhead and the 3709 and 3710 Trails. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) itself is unaffected by this closure, but access to and from the PCT is limited in the area. The 3651 Road is closed at the Road 3659 junction about 1.75 miles south of Cold Springs Trailhead. Pelican Butte Road remains closed. The Westside Road is completely open and unaffected by the closure order as it is not a Forest Service road. However, all forest lands adjacent to the road are closed.
The perimeter of the Area Closure includes all Forest Lands west of Westside Road, east of Pelican Butte Road, north of the 3554 Road, and south of 3519 Road.
Last night, the area in and around the fire perimeter received about ¼ inch of rain. This moisture is good in the short term and will allow firefighters an opportunity today to advance dozer lines and ensure fire along edges of roads are out. In the longer term, the rain came with a significant amount of lightning which means there may be holdover fires that will be detected once the temperatures rise and fuels begin to dry out.
Red Flag Warning’s are in place for this afternoon, calling for more thunderstorms on dry fuels. Wetting rains should only be in very isolated pockets, leaving us with the possibility of more dry lightning in the next 24 hour period.
Today, firefighters will continue mop-up efforts around spot fires and landing piles along the eastern flank. Mop-up efforts will further secure the containment lines and reduce the potential for the fire to spread. Crews will also work to improve dozer lines and Forest Service Road near the fire perimeter by clearing brush and limbing trees of all ladder fuels. Hazard or snag trees are proving to be another primary safety consideration on this fire and last night’s winds and rain may have further weakened these trees.
If traveling on Westside Road or through the Rocky Point area, please be vigilant and drive with caution as emergency traffic vehicles are in the area. When smoke is visible, motorists are encouraged to drive with their headlights on. Please use extreme caution when driving near firefighters and equipment.
An online option for viewing the fire area is https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/publicmaps/keno/map.html. Winds from the north continued to push smoke into the Basin today. Air quality advisories are available at www.klamathair.org.
For more information, contact the North Pelican Fire Information line for the South Central Oregon Fire Management Partnership at 541-363-7412 or scofmp.fire.info@gmail.com.
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