Fire Information Line: 541-719-8135
Email: nashfire17@gmail.com
Website: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
Blog: http://centralorfireinfo.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @CentralORFire
You Tube Channel: https://goo.gl/SRRAr3 (Milli and Nash Fire updates)
Size: Approximately 2,528 acres
Cause: Lightning
Percent Contained: 0%
Nash Fire Update
Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team 8, Incident Commander, Doug Johnson
September 2, 2017 - 9:00 AM
Special Announcements: A Red Flag Warning (a critical weather condition is or could occur) has been issued for Central Oregon for hot, dry, unstable conditions. The situation is highly dynamic and changing. Forest visitors are reminded to “Know Before You Go”.
General Fire Information: The Nash Fire was started by lightning storm in late August. The fire is burning in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area along the crest of the Cascade Mountains on the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests. Smokejumpers were initially deployed and worked to suppress the fire. The smokejumpers were removed due to high risk from very active fire behavior and steep difficult terrain. The fire has been monitored by air. The area became shrouded in smoke over the next several weeks and aerial flights could no longer see the perimeter. Infra-red detecting flights were conducted over the fire to estimate and monitor perimeter growth.
Fire managers are concerned the fire will progress downward out of the wilderness moving to the southeast using the vegetative timber stringers as fuel and push into the Elk Lake area. After evaluating values at risk, the decision was made to engage the fire with direct, indirect and aerial, full suppression tactics where feasible. A Structure protection group is beginning triage of infrastructure in the Elk Lake area including the resort, 40 plus recreation residences, and the historic Forest Service Elk Lake Guard Station.
September 2 Update: The Nash and Separation Fires grew together yesterday and current acreage is unknown. The fire continues to be active and a spot fire was detected on MODIS 1 mile from its southern most edge yesterday, near Nash Lake.
Local residents, resort owners, emergency services and agencies met to discuss the management and future of the Nash Fire yesterday afternoon. Firefighters will continue triage and protection of infrastructure in the Elk Lake area. Reconnaissance of potential indirect and direct line construction is being evaluated at this time. The NWIIMT8 is moving forward creating a plan with their number one priority being public and firefighter safety.
Weather: A Red Flag Warning (a critical weather condition is or could occur) has been issued for Central Oregon for hot, dry, unstable conditions.
Air Quality: Air quality forecasted for the Bend and Sisters areas are in the Unhealthy range “Orange” category. People within Sensitive Groups should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion. Those with smoke sensitivities should take appropriate precautions. Information is available at: http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com and https://airnow.gov
Incident Management: NWIIMT8, with Doug Johnson, Incident Commander, is managing and supporting the firefighters of the Nash and Milli Fires. The incident command post (ICP) is located at the Sisters Rodeo Grounds in Sisters, Oregon.
Closures and Use Restrictions: The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with fire managers, has placed a Level 2 (Set) evacuation notice for the areas surrounding the Elk Lake and Hosmer Lake including Elk Lake Resort, Elk Lake Guard Station, Elk Lake Campground(CG), Point CG, Mallard CG, Sunset View Day Use area, Beach Day Use Area, and Quinn Meadow’s Horse Camp and a Level 1 (Ready) evacuation notice for the areas surrounding Lava Lake and Little Lava Lake including Lava Lake Resort, Lava Lake CG, and Little Lava Lake CG. Current maps including the evacuation areas can be found at https://arcg.is/D9OPi
Trail closures are in place: Closed trails include: Wickiup Plains, South Sister/Devil’s Lake, Sisters Mirror Lake, Elk Lake, Green Lakes, and PCT from Irish and Taylor Lake north to Olallie Lake. PCT Trail Angels will be at Cultus Lake to help hikers. Information can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/deschutes/alerts-notices
A big thank you for these updates and especially to all the firefighters.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! There are lots of firefighters out there working hard in the heat this holiday weekend.
ReplyDeleteReally, It's about time that someone is paying some attention to this fire. These new more aggressive actions should have been taken back when the Deschutes Sheriff called for the Evac notices or before. I've been following this fire and the non-action for the last week. Seemed like no one was tumbling to the fact that the Nash fire is a very important fire for Central Oregon. The Willamette was treating it like just another little Wilderness fire that could be managed under the Wilderness Strategies - monitoring and evaluating. It was no more than a little blip on the very right hand edge of their map. Who was it that finally put two and two together and stepped back to see the relationship between this little fire that was just being monitored and what the potential really is?
ReplyDeleteYou can contact the Incident Management Team for the Nash Fire if you have questions about the tactics/strategies. They can be reached by phone at 541-719-8135 or email at nashfire17@gmail.com
DeleteLike 4llamas above, I've been following Nash for a while too, so thanks so much for your updates! It seems that the responsibility for this fire has been transferred over to Deschutes, which seems reasonable. Now that Separation and Nash have joined together, will they chose to keep calling it Nash ? And all this heat and breeze today...
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DeleteLooks like they are going to refer to it as Nash. It has finally been given a status to be addressed as a serious fire in its own right. While under the "management" of Willamette it was literally under a colossal Smoke Screen.
DeleteThe daily Youtube Channel updates mentioned at the top of this page are quite good too. Saturday morning was the first time they gave us the rundown on Nash.
ReplyDeleteReally appreciate the updates. Agree with Bob J, the YouTube videos are very informative. Thanks for all you do.
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