KOIN.com

Oregon, Western wildfire roundup, Aug. 8, 2021

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Incident Command Team in charge of battling the Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire in Oregon, had good news to report Sunday morning. As of Saturday night, the 413,765-acre fire is 96% contained.

In an update posted to Facebook Sunday morning, Operations Section Chief Trainee Joe Tone said over the next day and a half crews will make sure the north side of the fire is extra secure as they begin to back out of the area.

At the east side of the fire, crews added more containment and have been able to do mop-up. Tone said the threat to Summer Lake is “essentially gone.”

Crews have been patrolling the fire’s south edge looking for smoke, but haven’t seen much. Tone warned that smoke will still come from trees and logs burning inside the fire’s perimeter.

The Bootleg Fire is burning 15 miles west of Beatty, Ore., northeast of Klamath Falls.

South of the Bootleg Fire, two other small fires are burning – the Walrus fire and the Yainax Fire. The Walrus fire is burning 10.5 miles north of Bonanza and the Yainax Fire is burning 10 miles northeast of Bonanza.

There’s been no containment reported on either fire. As of Sunday morning, the Walrus Fire was 75 acres and the Yainax Fire was 88 acres. Officials say neither fire has grown in the last two days and crews are beginning mop-up efforts on them.

Even larger than the Bootleg Fire is the Dixie Fire burning in Butte County, California. Sunday morning, Cal Fire said the 463,477-acre fire is the second-largest in California’s history. The fire is 20% contained and crews hope it will be fully contained by Aug. 20, 2021. The fire has destroyed 404 structures.

KOIN Meteorologist Joseph Dames said the increase in relative humidity in Oregon and Washington means there won’t be much smoked throughout the state. He said wildfires shouldn’t be as active has the have been recently, due to the cooler and more humid weather.

An overview of the major wildfires in Oregon, listed by the date they started

Elbow Creek Fire
Reported July 15, unknown cause
22,960 acres, 95% contained
Information: Elbow Creek Fire

Bruler Fire
Began July 12, unknown cause
195 acres, 75% contained
Information on Bruler Fire

Grandview Fire
Began July 11, unknown cause
6,032 acres, 95% contained
Information: Grandview Fire

Bootleg Fire
Began July 6, lightning
413,765, 96% contained
The acreage contains the merged Bootleg and Log fires
Information: Bootleg Fire

Jack Fire
Began July 5, unknown cause
23,788 acres, 54% contained
Information: Jack Fire

Devil’s Knob Complex
Began Aug. 3, Cause: lightning
2,401 acres
Information: Devil’s Knob Fire

Skyline Ridge Complex
Began Aug. 1, Cause: lightning
2,418 acres, 9% contained
Information: Skyline Ridge Complex

Rough Patch Fire
Began June 29, unknown cause
2,193 acres, 3% contained
Information: Rough Patch Fire

Middle Fork Complex
Began June 29, unknown cause
3,703 acres, 10% contained
Information: Middle Fork Complex

Bull Complex (formerly Janus Complex)
Began Aug. 2, Cause: lightning
450 acres
Information: Bull Complex

Sunset Valley Fire
Began July 1, cause unknown
987 acres, 85% contained
Information: Bull Complex