A10
Wildfires
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Crews pulled off Canyon Creek Complex
Resources are
shifted to higher
priority incidents
By George Plaven
Blue Mountain Eagle
Photo by Colin Murphy for the Blue Mountain Eagle
Brant Olson of Clackamas walks the controlled burn fire line at the Canyon Creek Complex fire near John Day. Crews are being
released to fight other fires in the Northwest.
total has since dropped to about
150 structures. Crews have also
buttoned up the Jerry’s Draw
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Damon Simmons said the sit-
uation appears stable, which
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sent home or deployed to other
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homes and property at risk.
“I won’t be surprised if
we’re re-assigning a lot of those
structure units,” Simmons said.
B r o t h e r s
R u n
“Things have gone well the last
couple of days.”
State Forester Doug Deck-
er recently said the “pipeline
is empty” when it comes to
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to the sheer number of mega-
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ern California and the northern
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paredness Level 5, which is the
highest level issued.
Gov. Kate Brown ordered
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Guard soldiers to help in the
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the ground to determine where
the men and women are needed
most.
“They look at whether hous-
es are threatened, are evacua-
tions ongoing, are we getting
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ting pushed backward,” Sim-
mons said. “Every single day,
they’re having that conversa-
tion.”
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on the Canyon Creek Complex
despite ominous weather fore-
casts late last week that called
for gusty winds and continued
high temperatures.
Simmons said they are con-
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“We’ll just keep plugging
along to get it more and more
contained,” Simmons said.
“Nothing is a sure thing until
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they have a high degree of con-
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The Canyon Creek Complex
was the nation’s highest priority
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gone down to 10th. The Nation-
al Interagency Fire Center still
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ington as priorities one and two,
respectively.
As fewer structures are
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elsewhere.
“We’ll be here until we’re no
longer needed,” he said. “But
it’s looking very good.”
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By George Plaven
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When it comes to prioritiz- camp the second-largest city
ing the multitude of giant wild- in rural Grant County. About
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Canyon Creek Complex is no VLJQHGWRWKH¿UH
longer on top of the nation’s list.
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That distinction now be- ognize the enormous need to
ORQJV WR WKH 2NDQRJDQ &RP- protect lives, homes and infra-
SOH[ D IRXU¿UH LQIHUQR EXUQ- structure in Washington, where
ing nearly 256,000 acres in WKH 2NDQRJDQ &RPSOH[ DQG
north-central Washington state. North Star Fire have burned
That’s not to suggest help RYHUVTXDUHPLOHV
isn’t coming in daily to Canyon
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get preference for resources
is a process overseen by state
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on the ground level of each
blaze.
RICKI AND THE FLASH PG-13
It starts at the National
A musician who gave up everything for her dream
returns home, looking to make things right with
Interagency
Fire Center in
her family.
FRI & SAT
(4:10) 7:10 9:35
Boise,
where
a team of lead-
SUNDAY
(4:10) 7:10
ership known as the National
MON-THURS (4:10) 7:10
NO ESCAPE R
Multi-Agency Coordinating
In their new overseas home, an American family
soon finds themselves caught in the middle of a
Group sets priority by geo-
coup.
FRI & SAT
(4:00) 7:00 9:30
graphic region. Federal agen-
SUNDAY
(4:00) 7:00
cies represented in the group
MON-THURS (4:00) 7:00
HITMAN: AGENT 47 R
include the Bureau of Land
An assassin teams up with a woman to help her
find her father and uncover the mysteries of her
Management, Bureau of Indi-
ancestry.
FRI - THURS (4:20) 7:20 9:40
an Affairs, U.S. Forest Service,
SUNDAY
(4:20) 7:20
Fish and Wildlife Service, Na-
MON-THURS (4:00) 7:20
( ) = Bargain Matinee
tional Parks, U.S. Fire Admin-
$9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth
istration and National Associa-
tion of State Foresters.
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tinues to be the highest-prior-
ity region in the country and
remains under a Preparedness
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the highest level issued. But
other regions aren’t far behind,
with northern California and the
northern Rockies also at Level
5.
“We help prioritize and mo-
bilize resources to (incidents)
based on the need,” said Chris-
tine Cozakos, spokeswoman
with the forest service stationed
at the National Interagency Fire
Center. “It’s not random. There
is some strategy in placing those
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Brothers Run 2015
will be canceled due to
the Canyon Creek
Complex Fire. Look for
us next year!
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Heppner and Condon, Oregon
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541-676-9158
We Gladly Accept Visa or MasterCard
02573
With so much demand for
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Northwest, some crews have
been pulled off Canyon Creek
and will likely be re-assigned to
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and Washington.
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ers are making steady progress
on the Canyon Creek Complex
south of John Day.
The blaze, which burned out
of control for more than a week
and destroyed 39 houses, was
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as of Tuesday morning. At last
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scorched.
With southwest winds still
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moved to the Norton Fork area
near Pine Creek and Dog Creek
to be available for additional
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construction, patrolling and oth-
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sued for the area over the past
two days was lifted. Though
temperatures will remain high,
southwest winds are expected
to be lower and the air more
stable.
The total number of person-
nel now staged in John Day is
832, or about 100 fewer than
last week when Canyon Creek
was considered the nation’s
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structures were threatened. That
Contributed photo/Linda Smarr
Air tanker drops retardant over the Canyon Creek
Complex fire. The fire was 37 percent contained as
of Tuesday morning.
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Fire activity in the North-
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Cozakos said. It’s kind of a con-
stant moving around of resourc-
es, she added.
Within the Northwest re-
gion, another interagency co-
ordination center based in Port-
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conditions change on a dime
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rections, the main criteria boil
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lowed by protecting homes and
protecting other infrastructure,
such as bridges and power lines.
Koshare Eagle, spokes-
woman with the Northwest
Interagency Coordination Cen-
ter, said incident commanders
send in a worksheet every day
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safety, public safety and homes,
among other resources. A sec-
ond multi-agency team — this
one made up of representatives
from each agency that par-
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— reviews the information and
issues an bulletin of priorities.
Though the Canyon Creek
Complex, which continues to
threaten more than 150 struc-
tures, is now 10th on the list,
that doesn’t mean it couldn’t
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“It really is going to depend
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in the area,” she said.
Nor does it mean, just be-
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receive everything. Cozakos
said the center does its best
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es, though they are about as
stretched as they can get.
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out resources,” Cozakos said.
Incident priorities for the
Northwest are posted daily
online at www.gacc.nifc.gov/
nwcc/
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