This isn't exactly a fresh headline. The scene here in Oregon is pretty nasty. So many damned fires.

It's looking like Mackenzie Bridge is on fire, and we're in for another day of strong & dry east wind.

Anyone have a good resource for live fire boundary status?

Edit: Mackenzie may not be on fire. Close.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1063996 ... 11hpgvk8x4

Edit, use preceding ^^^^

Good info and good timing. I am hopefully flying out to PDX Friday to pick up a Husky at a nearby airport and ferry it to TN. Was hoping to work my way down towards Boise, possibly Afton and continue east once clear of the mountains. This could be interesting.....

Heres an IR image of the Holiday Farm Fire from last nights IR flight. 2130 PDT. This view Looking NE up the McKenzie River. 105,444 acres at 2130 PDT. Leaburg is in the foreground outside the fire perimeter.

I monitor inciweb at work, unfortunately it is showing that one of the transmitter sites I work at is in danger of being burned over.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

This doesn’t show boundaries etc but gives the status and dedication of resources, wether structures are threatened etc.

https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf

Luckily things haven’t gone nuts in our region. We’ve had a somewhat quiet Fire year here in Idaho. Somewhat.

Zane, Hope things work out for you and everyone else in the area. My son said he and his wife was stuck on the hwy for 5 hours the other day, coming back from the coast, due to smoke/fire?

I live in the Medford area... The fires here went through the Rogue Valley and devastated the towns of Ashland, Talent and Phoenix. Most of Phoenix is burned down... I was on a level 3 evac last night in Central Point due to a separate fire that started east of Interstate 5... Luckily that fire was contained rather quickly with several helicopters and three air tankers making drops right in the middle of town... I was in a rush to get home from the shop and got stuck in traffic going out, took over an hour to drive about 5 miles...

Here is an article about the Talent/Phoenix fires...

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/09/wildfire-cuts-swath-of-destruction-in-southern-oregon-phoenix-and-talent-pretty-well-devastated.html



DC-10 after a drop... this was when I was stuck in traffic on the way home... The Medford airport is just to the left of this image, not much of a turn around time between drops for these guys...

Brian

Reading a book now, by Daniel James Brown

"Under a Flaming Sky" The great Hinkley firestorm of 1894.

It burned 350,000 acres in 5 hours. Trapped 2000 people and killed 400.

Good read

Riverside fire, SE of Portland, OR. IR flight last night, 9/11/2020, 2013 hrs, 132,545 acres.

Google earth Vicinity


Zoomed in.


Map

The Thielson Fire near Diamond lake Oregon hasn't gotten hardly any media coverage or an Inceweb page. This is Infra red taken on Sept. 12 at 23:36 hrs PDT. 5580 acres.

Vicinity


Zoomed in


Looking SE toward Mount Thielson

Holiday Farm Fire. IR taken 13 Sept 20:12 Hrs PDT. 166,526 acres, 4700 Acre increase in past 24 hrs. The perimeter is 1.5 miles west of the McKinzie Bridge State Airport. See the close up.

Is it expanding to the east?

Zzz wrote:Is it expanding to the east?

I don't think so. All across the most eastern section of the perimeter on both sides of the highway is isolated and scattered heat only. I suspect they have that part of the fire's edge secured.

Below are the comments from the IR interpreter.

Comments /notes on tonight’s mission and this interpretation:
Started tonight with perimeter from 20200912.

Most new heat areas were along the north, east, and south edge of the perimeter. Some of the unburned pockets within the perimeter are being burned and becoming smaller. No heat was seen distant from the perimeter, a few small hot spots were found a short distance outside of the heat perimeter.

The Holiday Farm fire is 11 miles from my house. We have been in Level 1 for a week. We are packed but we don't think we'll have to evacuate. We are tired of the smoke, but the inversion is helping the fire fighting effort. They got a containment line on the edge of the fire closest to me.

Week before last I got to log IP time as an observer on a fire watch sortie. I was supposed to fly two fire watch sorties and a discovery flight last week. I think we may be done with fire watch since the area where we fly is on fire and/or in a TFR.

Had to reschedule my elk hunt as well. That said, if the only thing affecting me is parking unnecessarily, rescheduling an elk hunt, missing a shooting competition, and not getting to fly for a couple weeks; then it's a win.

There are many people who have lost everything......

The Thielson Fire squirted out to the northeast yesterday. IR flight 14 Sept 20:28 hrs PDT, 7778 acres, increase of 2198 acres. MY wife is worried about this one. She was the Lookout on Cinnamon Butte for a few years 20 years ago. It's inside the Thielson Wilderness but there's a non-wilderness corridor along the road and around the Lookout and BUMT (Butt Ugly Microwave Tower) up there too, so it would be pretty high priority to protect. Thielson has an Inciweb page now https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7195/





Cinnamon is the Cadilac of lookouts.


Mount Thielson out the window.

Stay Safe . I know what your going through. Went up to Big Bear lake for the Labor Day weekend and Had the El Dorado fire block our quickest route back.
Got home to find the Valley fire about 15 miles from my house and that my home airport was being used for Heli ops. Closed one runway
this is normal life for Southern California, but when its burning like it does here where you guys are we have deep problems.

Again, Stay Safe

Speaking of fires....
I'm normally quite a tightwad,
but at times of natural disasters (fires, floods, etc) I've gotten into the habit of donating money to the relief efforts.
I think I started doing this back during Hurricane Katrina.
It's one thing to have your house catch fire, or even burn to the ground,
but when the whole area is on fire or flooded out it's a whole 'nother thing.

I donated $100 to Red Cross last week, might make another donation if things continue as it appears they will.
I'd like to challenge everyone here to do the same.
The Red Cross isn't the only game in town,
there are other outfits that provide shelter & food to fire victims, and to firefighters.