Boze and Rainbow Fire Update 9-29-09, 10:30 AM
Incident: Boze and Rainbow Creek Wildfire
Released: 9/29/2009
TILLER, OR - September 29, 2009, 10:30 A.M. - The National Incident Management (NIMO) Type 1 team continues to manage the Boze Fire, located 6 miles south of the Boulder Creek Wilderness and Highway 138 and the Rainbow Creek Fire, located in and near the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness Area.
With slightly higher humidity and less wind, the Boze and Rainbow Fires behaved more moderately yesterday. Late yesterday the weather began to shift to very cold and damp conditions which effectively prevented any forward spread of the fires overnight. Heavy cloud cover and light rain at night prevented completion of the daily infrared mapping overflight, but it is estimated that the acreage total for both fires has increased only slightly in the last 24 hours. The fire did not reach the Buckhead Campground, which firefighters had prepared with a sprinkler system. The Boze Fire is now estimated at 10,150 acres and the Rainbow Creek Fire and has burned about 4,000 acres, bringing the total for the two fires to about 14, 150 acres.
The weather forecast today calls for continued cold and wet conditions, with enough rain expected to significantly reduce fire behavior. Following a brief period of drier and warmer weather late in the week, another period of cold wet weather will further suppress the fires.
"We are still estimating that we can call these fires fully contained by October 15", said Incident Commander Tom Cable. "Our priorities remain firefighter and public safety, and the protection of developed facilities. When the weather clears up we will adjust our operations and our workforce accordingly. Now that the fire behavior is winding down we can release people and equipment more quickly, but we still have a lot of clean-up to do."
Resources assigned to the Boze and Rainbow Creek Fires include: 10 crews, 1 heavy-lift helicopter, 1 medium helicopter, 1 light helicopter, 16 engines, 1 dozer, 7 water tenders, 205 overhead and 2 camp crews. In total, 551 people are assigned to managing these fires. These numbers will decrease with the onset of cool wet weather.
Local hunters may find their favorite hunting areas in the upper South Umpqua River inaccessible due to road closures. With rifle season quickly approaching, hunters need to plan ahead to access other locations. A large area and road closure has been put in place to provide for public and firefighter safety. Additionally, public-use restrictions in the North Umpqua, Diamond Lake and Tiller ranger districts prohibit building, maintaining, tending or using a fire, campfire, or stove fire outside of developed recreation sites such as campgrounds, lookouts and trailheads. Liquefied and bottle gas stoves and heaters may be used for cooking and heating. Please visit the Umpqua National Forest website at www.fs.fed.us/r6/umpqua for the detailed description of the closure area and public-use restrictions. The public is asked to drive slowly and use caution near the South Umpqua River area and to please stay off closed roads.
