ODF release, July 22, 10:46 a.m., Location: 28 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, OR; Size: 399,359 acres; Personnel: 2,359; Containment: 38%. Klamath Falls, ORE. – Higher humidity and reduced wind speeds Wednesda and overnight allowed firefighters to construct and improve firelines. Thursday’s forecast was favorable to continue those efforts in securing the existing fireline. A steady warming and drying trend began Thursday and continue into the weekend which can affect fire activity in the upcoming days. “Fire crews and support personnel have made significant progress in containing this fire in the last few days,” said Joe Prummer, Incident Commander trainee of Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 2. “However, we still have a long road ahead of us to ensure the safety of the surrounding communities.” The Oregon State Fire Marshall have transitioned to working with Zone 2 on the north and northeast sections of the fire. The fireline to Long Creek was improved with dozers and helicopter drops. Firefighters scouted the area from Long Creek to Coyote Creek to develop a plan to connect the fireline to the already completed line near The Nature Conservancy compound. Fire activity picked up in the Sycan Marsh but was quickly contained by dozers. Crews and equipment are going direct along the eastern fireline while also working to improve contingency lines between the fire and the communities near Summer Lake as well as provide structure protection for those homes. There was some slight growth to the northeast, however dozer crews were able to stop that progression and crews worked to hold that Thursday. In many areas of the fire, firefighters are working on patrolling and mopping areas along the line. This step is necessary to ensure that all heat that could threaten the security of the fire line has been extinguished. Resources continue to be shifted around the fire perimeter to meet resource needs across the fire area. As the need for night operations on the southern zone decreases, those resources will be moved to day shift or sent home for rest as they time out. An additional responsibility of the firefighters on the Bootleg Fire is to provide initial attack response in the area adjacent to the fire. Any new starts have the potential to rapidly grow, given the extremely dry fuel conditions. Fire managers have identified resources that would respond immediately in the event that a new fire should start.
