Crews continue building depth on fire lines in preparation for today’s fire weather watch
MONUMENT, Ore. – The Courtrock Fire is under an excessive heat warning today, with a red-flag warning and fire weather watch starting this afternoon.
Firefighters on the Courtrock fire have prepared for this over the last several days with tenacious mop up. Mop up is the process of cooling the perimeter of the fire to reduce the chance of spot fires or heat from the perimeter igniting dry vegetation outside the fire line.
Crews continue to work inward from the perimeter, especially on the south end, building depth along fire lines to further secure the line against oppressive heat over the next few days.
With temperatures over 100 degrees today across the fire, and low relative humidity further drying record low vegetation moisture, aggressive fire behavior is anticipated today and through the weekend.
Atmospheric conditions will be unstable, causing some cumulus cloud cover, and residents may experience increased smoke from other fires in the area that had active fire growth yesterday. The Coutrock Fire remains 19,854 acres and containment has increased to 45% today, from 41% yesterday. This is a direct reflection of crew and landowner efforts over the last couple of weeks working in coordination to suppress the Courtrock Fire.
ODF Team 1 will be transitioning command of the Courtrock fire to Southwest Incident Management Team 2, Incident Commanders John Truett and Todd Abel, at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. This will be the last update from ODF Team 1, and SWIMT 2 will provide future updates.
ODF Team 1 would like to thank local landowners and the community for their assistance during this incident.
Due to fire activity in the area, the U.S. Forest Service has issued closures for the Malheur National Forest. Up to date information on Malheur National Forest closures can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/malheur/news-events
Information for Zone I of the Battle Mountain Complex, including the western portion of the Monkey Creek Fire (formerly Boneyard Fire) can now be found at: www.facebook.com/battlemountaincomplex2024
Evacuations: Level 1 (Get Ready), Level 2 (Be Set) and Level 3 (Go Now) evacuations are in effect. For updated evacuation information:
- Grant County Emergency Management Office’s Facebook page, or sign up for the Grant County Emergency Alert System at https://member.everbridge.net/825462649520134/login. Morrow County Evacuation information can be found at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/de78333b0d2544f7a3 20142174aa20ae
Shelters: An evacuation center has been set up at Grant Union High School (911 S Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845).
Clean air and cooling centers are located in the following locations in Grant County:
- Grant County Library- cooling & clean air, Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
- John Day Senior Center- cooling & clean air, Monday & Thursday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Tuesday 12 – 4 p.m.
- Prairie City Public Works – clean air center, Monday – Friday 12 – 7 p.m.
- Dayville Community Hall- cooling & clean air, 24/7
