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Rail Ridge Fire Update – October 06, 2024

Rail Ridge Fire Update 

October 06, 2024 

Central Oregon Wildfire Information: centraloregonfire.org 

Email: 2024.railridge@firenet.gov  –  Phone: 541-208-7111

Social Media, Evacuation and Closure Information: https://linktr.ee/RailRidgeFire

Acres: 168,002 – Containment: 89% – Detection: 09/02/24 – Cause: Lightning – Personnel: 593

Forest closures are still in place and hazardous conditions remain within the fire area. Hazards include:  

  • Narrow, damaged, one-way roads 
  • Changing and unexpected fire behavior 
  • Hazard trees 
  • Unstable ground that has recently been burned 
  • Heavy equipment, vehicles, and crews on the roads 

It is critical for the safety of forest visitors and fire personnel that no unauthorized people enter the fire area. Information including updates on the Rail Ridge Fire, the forest closure order, and a map with ODFW hunting management areas overlayed with the closure area and fire footprint can be found at https://linktr.ee/RailRidgeFire.

Operational Update
Yesterday, smoke was visible in the area as fuels continue to burn on the interior of the fire. Crews performed tactical firing operations to strengthen the dozer and hand lines around the active fire in the Black Canyon Wilderness. Firefighters worked diligently on protecting the communications site and lookout tower on Wolf Mountain. Yesterday’s firing operations helped secure that site. Suppression Repair work and mop-up continued around the fire.  

Today, firefighters will be focusing on suppression repair and maintaining the perimeter along the edge of much of the fire. A slight afternoon increase in winds may cause some increased fire activity in the Black Canyon Wilderness area. Crews will continue to strengthen the perimeter and perform tactical firing operations as needed. Weather will continue to be seasonably warm, although the shorter days and higher relative humidity that come with early October will be shortening the afternoon burn period. Suppression repair remains a focus for the incident management team, and fire crews based out of both the Rager and Dayville fire camps will continue this important work. Patrolling of the uncontained areas around the northern edge of the fire and mop-up of any heat found along the contained fire edge will continue. Air resources remain available to firefighters as needed. 

Weather: Above seasonally normal temperatures in the low to mid 70s are expected with dry conditions due to lower relative humidity than the last few days. Afternoon winds are expected with possible gusts up to 20mph.  

Evacuations: Level 1 evacuations in Grant County were dropped this week and the level 2 evacuations remain. Wheeler County evacuation remain the same.   

For Current Evacuation Levels all affected counties, please visit: https://linktr.ee/RailRidgeFire 

Closures: The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have implemented closures for the Rail Ridge Fire. For more details and closure maps, visit https://linktr.ee/RailRidgeFire

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