FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2021
THE OBSERVER — A5
then took off , or it’s man-
caused,” Beach said. “I
can’t speculate.”
Henson agreed the
sleeper was possible, but
had other ideas.
“It’s probably a man-
caused fi re,” he said. “I
don’t know what else it
could be. It’s right there on
the river.”
As for whether the blaze
will reach his property,
Henson said, “It’s 50-50. It
is what it is.”
FIRES
Continued from Page A1
Road, Powwatka Road, and
the 500/501 Road up to the
763 Road. Those notices, as
of the morning of July 16,
were still in place.
Roy Flat and the 603
Road are at a Level 1 “Get
Ready” notice.
Watching the fi re ner-
vously from the Flora-Troy
Road about 5 miles from
Troy, Travis Beach heeded
the warnings July 15 to be
prepared to evacuate.
“We’re ready to go.
We’re nervous,” he said.
“We have our stuff packed
and ready to go.”
He was there talking
with friends Donald and
Kathy Casper, who with
their son drove pickups
from Wallowa to help.
“We came out to lend a
hand to our friends,” Kathy
Casper said. “We have sev-
eral friends here in Flora
that might need their equip-
ment moved. They didn’t
have enough people to
Smoky skies
over the valley
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Smoke churns up from the Elbow Creek Fire west of Troy as seen from the Flora-Troy road on Thursday
evening, July 15, 2021.
move their equipment so we
were coming out to help.”
Jim Henson, who was
watching a little farther up
the road, was ready to go.
“We’re as packed as we
can be. Put valuables in a
go bag and park the equip-
ment in a fallow fi eld that’s
been plowed. There’s the
house and outbuildings, the
hay and crops in the fi elds
we can’t do much about.”
“Unfortunately, for our
friends and clients in Troy
and on Eden Bench, it
doesn’t look so promising,”
Kathy Casper said. “Travis
CREWS
personnel at the site.
The Green Ridge Fire
as of July 15 was 15% con-
tained and encompassed
more than 500 acres. Sim-
ilar to the Lick Creek Fire,
the wildfi re in Green Ridge
was ignited by a light-
ning strike on July 7 and is
experiencing increased fi re
behavior due to the dry con-
ditions. InciWeb predicts
the fi re will be contained by
Aug. 31, with eff orts cur-
rently aimed at creating a
control line to the east.
Continued from Page A1
National Forest. The
20-person crews are not
considered initial attack
resources — instead they
focus on providing service
to regional and national
incidents that require large-
scale containment eff orts.
The La Grande Inter-
agency Hotshot Crew
was one of 15 crews
attempting to extinguish
the Lick Creek Fire that
began on July 7. The light-
ning-sparked fi re as of July
16 extends over 60,000
acres in the Pomeroy
Ranger District of South-
eastern Washington and is
30% contained.
More than 600 total per-
sonnel are involved in the
eff orts to contain the Lick
Creek Fire. InciWeb, an
interagency all-risk incident
information management
system, estimates the fi re
will be fully contained by
MINAM
Continued from Page A1
chunk in Union County
along Highway 82 near the
old hairpin curve is also
included.
The acquisition,
according to ODFW East
Region Manager Nick
Myatt, is to be done in two
phases. Phase I makes up
just over 4,600 acres and
includes the northern por-
tion of the buy. ODFW, if
it gets the OK to move for-
ward, hopes to fi nalize the
purchase by December
2021.
Phase II makes up the
remaining land, which
encompasses nearly 11,000
acres, and would close
sometime in 2023, Myatt
said.
Myatt explained that
the property, which is con-
sidered a place with ample
fi shing and hunting oppor-
tunities, entails seven dif-
ferent strategy habitats the
ODFW has interest in pre-
(Beach) has a beautiful
home down the hill.”
Area residents had their
guesses as to the cause of
the blaze.
“From what they’re
saying it was a sleeper from
the lightning storm a week
ago that just smoldered and
Pete Caster/Lewiston Tribune
Wildland fi refi ghters watch and take video with their cellphones as a
plane drops fi re retardant on Harlow Ridge above the Lick Creek Fire,
burning southwest of Asotin, Washington, Monday, July 12, 2021.
The Union Interagency
Hotshot Crew aided the
containment eff orts at the
Green Ridge Fire, burning
approximately 30 miles east
of Walla Walla and only
about 20 miles southwest
of the Lick Creek Fire. The
Union hotshots were one
of 10 crews working on the
fi re and part of the 237 total
serving. Additionally, it
contains a dozen “observed
strategy species” in the
area and four state or fed-
erally listed species of fi sh
— Spring Chinook, Steel-
head, Bull Trout and Pacifi c
Lamprey.
“What’s great about this
property is there is a lot of
opportunity for non-con-
sumptive use as well,” he
said. “One of the things
we’re excited about is the
potential to restore the his-
toric Minam River Trail.”
He said there is also an
opportunity for habitat res-
toration and improvement.
A Forest Legacy Pro-
gram grant the group hopes
to receive would cover the
lion’s share of the funding:
$9.7 million, all of which
is currently planned to
help cover Phase II of the
acquisition.
The Rocky Mountain
Elk Foundation is slated to
cover more than $5.1 mil-
lion, including $1.65 mil-
lion of the initial purchase.
ODFW’s Pittman-Rob-
ertson funds will be utilized
for $3.1 million in Phase I.
Fundraising by the Oregon
Hunters Association
would cover the remaining
$750,000 of the budgeted
cost.
Approximately 30 people
listened into the July 13
meeting and were largely
supportive of the plan.
“It’s nice to see this
coming into state owner-
ship,” Wallowa County
Commissioner John
Hillock said. “We’re des-
perately trying to get Wal-
lowa County back to being
a working landscape.”
Vic Coggins said he sup-
ports the plan “100%.”
“I don’t know of any
other land acquisition that
we could do that would
be as important,” he said,
calling the area a “super
important wildlife cor-
ridor.” “Big game, upland
birds and wildlife. That’s
the lowest elevation in the
Minam unit. … I can’t say
enough about the impor-
tance of this area.”
Sept. 1. Timber, grass and
litter are the main sources
of fuel for the wildfi re.
Green Ridge Fire
covers 500 acres
Recovery time short
for fi refi ghters
Following the brief rest
period, both Union County
hotshot crews will be relo-
cated to new 14-day assign-
ments. Each team com-
pletes upward of 20 fi re
assignments per fi re season,
involving about 80 days of
service.
The National Inter-
agency Hotshot Crews
agency and the Pacifi c
The Elbow Creek Fire is
contributing to the smoky
conditions in the Grande
Ronde Valley, but it is not
a major factor according
to Marilyn Lohmann, a
forecaster for the National
Weather Service offi ce in
Pendleton.
“The majority of the
smoke is from the Bootleg
Fire,” said Lohmann,
referring to the 241,000-
acre fi re in Southwestern
Oregon, one of the largest
Northwest regional offi ce
will determine the next
assignment for the two
crews based on areas with
the most need. According to
Probert, it is likely that both
teams will remain working
on wildfi res in Oregon and
Washington until more
relief is supplied and the
overall acreage of wildfi res
decreases in the region.
Local dispatch helps
coordinate eff orts
The Northwest Inter-
agency Incident Manage-
ment Team 9 is another
crew dispatched out of the
Blue Mountain Interagency
Dispatch Center and con-
tributing to the regional
wildfi re containment eff ort.
The 58-person team is cen-
tered in La Grande, but
its members come from a
variety of other areas.
Team 9 is currently
helping to extinguish the
Jack Fire near Jack Creek
along Highway 138 East in
in the nation.
She said La Grande is
expected to receive wind
from the southwest this
weekend, which means sig-
nifi cantly more smoke from
the Bootleg Fire may be
arriving.
“You probably will
have a smoky weekend,”
Lohmann said.
La Grande had smoky
conditions the morning
of July 16, but its air
quality rating, according
to AirNow.gov, was in the
good category at 11. This
may have been because of
the altitude of the smoke,
explained Rob Brooks,
a meteorologist with the
National Weather Service in
Pendleton.
“Just because you have
smoke aloft does not mean
you have it on the surface,”
Brooks said.
He said July 16 that wind
conditions are not expected
to push smoke toward the
fl oor of the Grande Ronde
Valley over the weekend,
but, he added, “That could
change, however.”
Southwestern Oregon. The
wildfi re was fi rst reported
on July 5 and as of July 16
had extended to more than
15,000 acres. The fi re was
25% contained July 16 and
InciWeb predicts the wildfi re
to be contained by Aug. 15.
Incident Commander
Type 2 Brian Goff leads
the team as regional crews
come in for backup support.
Like the hotshot crews, the
Northwest Interagency Inci-
dent Management Team 9
operates on 14-day assign-
ments in areas that need the
most assistance.
The Blue Mountain Inter-
agency Dispatch Center also
dispatches several Wash-
ington fi re engines in the
Umatilla National Forest
that are assisting at the
Bootleg Fire in Southern
Oregon. The largest burning
wildfi re in the nation on
July 16, the Bootleg Fire has
extended over 235,000 acres.
The fi re is 7% contained and
nearly 2,000 personnel are
working the blaze.
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