FROM PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
A5
Gains:
Continued from Page A1
crews were up to 28% con-
tainment and had conducted
a successful burnout oper-
ation in the Elbow Creek
area.
Friday and Saturday
The fi re saw decent
growth of roughly 1,000 to
1,500 acres a day on both
Friday and Saturday, and it
reached 21,928 acres as of
Saturday’s report. Friday,
it had been at 20,810. Con-
tainment of the fi re was up
to 25%.
“Night operations were
successful,” the team stated
Saturday. “No substan-
tial growth of the fi re was
observed. Overall, things
are going well with no major
concerns for (Saturday’s)
operations.”
Crews
worked
to
strengthen “Plan B” contin-
gency lines, and performed
small burnout operations to
increase containment line
security.
On Friday, Wallowa
County Emergency Man-
agement lowered evacuation
notices. Troy, which Thurs-
day was lowered from Level
3 to Level 2, was dropped to
Level 1 “Get Ready.” Prom-
ise and Eden Bench, which
were at Level 3, dropped
to Level 2 “Get Set.” And
Flora, which Thursday had
been dropped to Level 1,
Weer:
Continued from Page A1
are about 1,000 fi refi ghters
on the entire fi re.
“And that’s continuing to
grow by the hour,” he said.
Deedon said that with
resources in Oregon becom-
ing more scarce, aid is com-
ing from other states. While
in the Promise area Thurs-
day, several trucks from
Idaho passed by. He said
there also are resources from
Arizona and even a PIO
from Louisiana.
Contract fi refi ghter
Another fi refi ghter told
how diffi cult the work is.
Juan Mora, of Salem, has
been battling blazes since
2000 and is now a con-
tract fi refi ghter. He arrived
on the fi re early Thursday
and began checking out the
situation.
“It’s hard work. … I like
to check the whole ground
I’m going to be working on
fi rst,” Mora said from Sloan
Point, a staging area for
Division Whiskey. He said
highly trained hotshot fi re-
fi ghters were down Gross-
man Creek.
“It looks like it’s holding,
but you never know with the
winds you’ve had. It could
pick up,” he said. “You do
put in work. It’s not just a
hike in the woods. We take
it seriously. We work all
year long on the forests. We
plant, we thin, it’s not just a
hike in the woods. It’s a lot
of stuff like dry-mopping
and harder stuff .”
Dry-mopping, he said, is
to use a pulaski to dig 2 feet
of dirt to cover any burning
Pennie Rials/Contributed Photo
A hay barn owned by the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife from which elk are fed.
Spared:
Continued from Page A1
Inciweb.com/Screenshot
The latest mapping of the Elbow Creek Fire has it at 22,790 acres and 38% contained as of
Tuesday, July 27, 2021.
had that notice lifted.
Thursday
Crews worked to contain
the fi re in drainages at Sick-
foot and Grossman creeks
and as it started to spread
into Elbow Creek as the
approached 20,000 acres,
but by Thursday night,
during a virtual commu-
nity update Operations Sec-
tion Chief Eric Perkins said
“things are looking good
right now” in those areas
that had given fi refi ghters a
challenge.
Perkins said that fi re pro-
gression had been “pretty
much stopped” in the area of
Sickfoot Creek at the south-
ern edge of the blaze.
Fire progression had also
been slowed in the Gross-
man Creek area, and along
the Grande Ronde River,
spread has been slowed, he
said.
Incident
Commander
Link Smith said Thursday he
was impressed with the size
the fi re has been held to.
“Most of this fi re is in
really good shape,” he said,
though at the time he cau-
tioned that “we’re not out
of the woods yet. We’re in
a really tough spot here in
Elbow Creek.”
or fl ammable material.
“What you’re doing is
taking out the oxygen from
the fi re,” he said.
Bringing it home
But knowing the people
here brings it home all the
more.
“When the fi re’s in your
own back yard, per se, I don’t
want to say it’s more import-
ant — all fi res are import-
ant — but I have a lot more
ownership in it locally,” Jeff
Weer said. “There are peo-
ple out here who have lost a
family cabin and I’m friends
with those folks, so that hits
harder.”
While proud of the eff orts
of her husband and other fi re-
fi ghters, wife Maria is still
concerned for their safety.
“I do worry about their
safety, but I know that they
train to be as safe as possi-
ble,” she said.
She also emphasized
the support off ered by the
community.
“We’re thankful for the
community support. Peo-
ple always reaching out to
see if I need help with car-
pools and the like,” she said.
“People are supportive of the
fi refi ghters, but they’re also
supportive of those of us at
home.”
Jeff Weer emphasized
that fi refi ghters in Wallowa
County have a good relation-
ship with their colleagues
from elsewhere.
“We have a really good
working relationship with
our ODF (Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry) partners
in Wallowa County,” Jeff
said. “We’re kind of land-
locked up here so we rely
heavily on each other for
mutual aid.”
unbelievable,” she said,
adding the aerial attack
was key. “Without them,
I think everybody would
have burned.”
Farther upriver, Gary
and Pennie Rials were
ready to evacuate — and
were in the Level 3 param-
eters — but elected to wait
it out.
The couple’s home
along the Grande Ronde
River is about 3 miles
southwest of Troy and a
few miles away from Wild-
cat Creek, the easternmost
point of the fi re.
“We’re 5 miles from
Wildcat Creek. It was com-
ing down our way,” Pennie
Rials said. “It was getting
kind of close. It turned and
went the other way.”
She said the couple
would have evacuated if
they had seen the fi re get-
ting closer.
“If it would have come
over the hill here called
Peacock … if we would
have seen fl ames, we were
leaving,” she said.
Rials said Gary was
keeping their property wet
throughout the duration in
case the fi re did close in.
“We have a ranch, so
my husband has been
keeping the water going
the whole time,” she said.
“That is the only way we
could have saved this place
is keeping it wet.”
With the fi re now largely
burning in the opposite
direction of the Rials’
home, the couple drove
up Eden Bench to see the
aftermath, and to inform
residents who were not
present that their homes —
or, in some instances, vaca-
tion homes — had made it.
“I’ve been trying to
keep people kind of alerted
about what’s going on,”
Rials said.
She, too, had high praise
for the crews who fought
the blaze.
“I couldn’t believe up
on Eden Bench the job
those guys have done. It’s
unbelievable,” she said
Wednesday. “The fi remen,
they are still up there, and
they have done a great
job.”
Both also credited Ron
Kellermann, a Joseph res-
ident who had been work-
ing in the area and who ran
a dozer along Eden Bench,
with helping spare homes.
“He was right on it,”
Shirley Hone said.
Find Your Business
in the Winners
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With an ad in the
Chieftain
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209 NW First St.,
Enterprise •541-426-4567
wallowa.com
Smoke clouds trees near the Bar B Ranch on Thursday, July 22,
2021 at the Elbow Creek Fire.
Ann Bloom has brought her Food & Nutrition
Programs to Alt Ed, After-School Programs
and Summer Exploration. She also participates
in community events such as Kidfest and
Farmer’s Market.
Ann has volunteered to be a mentor and
support BHF in a number of ways.
Thank you Ann, we are
so lucky to have you!
ANN
BLOOM
Building Healthy Families
541-426-9411
oregonbhf.org
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