The Bedrock Fire burning near Fall Creek Lake in the Willamette National Forest has now burned 8,152 acres, and remains at 0% contained.
In the Daily Bedrock Fire update, InciWeb reports that “unusually dry fuels are contributing to the fire’s growth.” According to the update, the combination of hot weather and lack of precipitation have made the moisture content in the area low. Dead wood and vegetation ignite easily and burns intensely, requiring “a lot of water and effort to extinguish.”
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Bedrock Fire Public Information Officer Randall Rishe also says that the terrain has made it challenging to contain the fire.
“At this point, we are seeing in our fire behavior that it’s really the terrain that’s moving the fire along,” Rishe said. “Fire likes to run upslope. It likes to creep downslope. And with those really high percentages of slope as it relates to some of these drainages, the fire likes to run up.”
The steep terrain also makes it challenging to deploy firefighters on the ground, however the plan is to “build a box around the fire” to contain the spread.
“What we want to do is first establish an anchor point on the west side of the fire where the communities are most at risk,” Rishe said. “Then you start building flanking lines around the fire, both to the south and to the north where our concerns are.”
As the fire continues to burn, smoke will also continue to blow into Central Oregon. The Air Quality Advisory in Lane and Deschutes County remains in place until at least Tuesday, and the latest updates on air quality can be found on the Oregon State Air Quality Monitoring page.
The team in charge of the Bedrock Fire posts updates to their Facebook page here.
