Firefighters Responding to Several Fires on Southern Edge of Forest
Release Date: Jul 31, 2014
20:00 hours
Firefighters are responding to at least a dozen lightning fires today on the Middle Fork Ranger District. Three of the 12 fires are several acres each; the remaining 9 are small as of this evening.
“Just as you’d expect, the afternoon heat picked up and we are seeing smoke columns come off the largest of the fires out there,” commented Middle Fork Fire Management Officer Randy Green. “We are staffing them, using water drops from helicopters and plan to work aggressively to keep them as small as we can, we have more resources on the way,” he added.
The largest of the fires (see photograph below) are located in, or near, the Staley Creek watershed and are approximately 25 miles southeast of Oakridge. Visitors are encouraged to use caution in areas where firefighters are actively working.
There are no public use restrictions in place at this time, but visitors should pay attention to fire danger levels and, as always, be careful with campfires.
Lightning is continuing to occur this evening along the Cascade crest; one new fire has been reported on the McKenzie River RD and one on Detroit RD. Firefighters are also responding at those locations.
- For additional information, contact your nearest Ranger District Office.
- Map showing general location of Staley Complex Fire (pdf ~ 246 kb)
Columns from 3 of the largest fires on 7/31/14 at 1700
Staley Creek Watershed, Middle Fork RD
Alerts & Warnings
- District Offices Closed March 27 for Training
- FIRE CLOSURES: Lookout, Bedrock, Cedar Creek, Beachie Creek & Lionshead
- Cougar Dam crest road intermittently closed through Sept. 2024
- Portion of Forest Road 46temporarily closed from Dec.- May
- Portion of McKenzie River Trail closed; trail detour in place
- Snow Levels at Sno-Parks as of Mar. 22