ODF report, Aug. 3, 9:26 p.m. – CANYONVILLE, Ore.— On August 1, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. a lightning storm over southern Douglas County ignited dozens of confirmed wildfires. Collectively the fires have been dubbed the Skyline Ridge Complex. The fires range from less than an acre to over 600 acres and are burning on a mix of public and private forestland in southern Douglas County, east of Interstate 5. Firefighters from Douglas Forest Protective Association, Oregon Dept. of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, and the US Forest Service have been aggressively attacking the blazes while providing for public and firefighter safety. The largest fires in the complex include Poole Creek (500-700 ac), O’Shea (100+ ac) and Ike’s Butte (40-60 ac). Despite high temperatures and low humidity, crews are making progress—getting control lines built around the fires and working toward containment. The suppression strategy is to keep the small fires small and prevent them from turning into larger, more problematic incidents. There are currently 19 large wildfires burning in the northwest. Progress on the Skyline Ridge Complex has been hampered by lack of resources. As more resources arrive over the next few days, crews will be tackling the larger fires within the complex. Oregon Department of Forestry’s Incident Management Team 1 assumed command of the fire at 6:00 p.m. on August 3, 2021. The Incident Management Team brings added capacity to manage firefighting efforts in multiple locations and the logistics of supporting the firefighters. “We are happy to be here and lend the district some support,” said Joe Hessel, Incident Commander for ODF’s Incident Management Team 1. “Our goals are to keep these fires as small as possible while keeping everyone safe. Staying safe and healthy also means we’ll be following strict COVID-19 protocols,” said Hessel. In addition to ODF’s Team taking command of the Skyline Complex, a separate incident management team (PNW Team 8) will be tackling the Devil’s Knob Complex which lies further to the east.
