Until today fire growth has
been predominately along the southern and eastern perimeters. Today’s erratic and shifting winds revealed a
new fire about ½ mile west of the fire’s western perimeter and within one mile
of the Cold Springs Trailhead. This fire
was originally detected with the same August 10 lightning storm but was never
found until today. The North Pelican
Fire is now estimated at 1,200 acres, including the 20 acre fire found to the
west.
 |
| Ground Fire cleaning up the forest floor, August 20, 2017 |
As
a safety precaution, the Fremont-Winema National Forest is finalizing an Area
Closure that will close portions of the forest around the incident to all
vehicle and pedestrian entry. This will include the Cold Springs Trailhead and
the 3709 and 3710 Trails. The 3651 Road will be closed at the Road 3659
junction about 1.75 miles south of Cold Springs Trailhead. Pelican Butte Road
remains closed.
Forest
Service staff are currently checking the Cold Springs Trailhead and will
attempt to contact any hikers who are inside the closure area. They are also posting trailheads that provide
access to the Cold Springs Trail area such as the Cherry Creek and Rogue-Siskiyou
National Forest Trailheads to let folks know that they will not be able to hike
into the Cold Springs Trail area. The
Pacific Crest Trail is unaffected by this closure.
The
general perimeter of the Area Closure will include all Forest Lands west of
Westside Road, east of Pelican Butte Road, north of the 3554 Road, and south of
3519 Road. The closure is currently
being finalized and should be in place later this evening. We will be sharing the closure via our social
media sites and e-mail once it is finalized.
In
other areas of the fire mop up efforts around spot fires and landing piles along
the eastern flank began today. Crews will mop up ten-feet into the fire’s
perimeter and will go further once hazard trees are mitigated. Hazard or snag trees are proving to be another
primary safety consideration on this fire.
Mop up efforts will further secure the containment lines and reduce the
potential for the fire to spread.
Remember,
if traveling on Westside Road or through the Rocky Point area, please be
vigilant and drive with caution as emergency traffic vehicles are plentiful 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. Daily wildfire/prescribed fire
information, maps and social media links can be found at SCOFMP Blog: http://bit.ly/2sK5YHY
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