Boze and Rainbow Fire Updates 9-30-09
Incident: Boze and Rainbow Creek Wildfire
Released: 9/30/2009
Autumn Arrives on Boze and Rainbow Creek Fires
TILLER, OR - September 30, 2009 - 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 much colder air, rain showers throughout the day, and snow at higher elevations. The Boze and Rainbow Fires stopped their spread yesterday. The Boze Fire is now estimated at 10,500 acres and the Rainbow Creek Fire and has burned about 4,000 acres, bringing the total for the two fires to about 14,500 acres.
The weather forecast today calls for unseasonably cool conditions, with a 40% chance of additional rain. Although the weather will warm and dry slightly on Thursday, it is not expected that the fire area will dry enough to allow the fires to spread. The weekend brings another period of cool, damp weather with snow on the ridgetops. While heavy concentrations of fuel within the fire will put up smoke for weeks to come, there is little predicted chance of the fire spreading.
"We have a lot of work left to do along the 28 Road and spur roads in the area to chip and remove the brush and trees we have cleared," said Incident Commander Tom Cable. "We also are still putting out smokes along this control line. While the risk to public safety and property has abated, there are still notable hazards to our firefighters, especially from the cold and damp weather. We're asking everyone to stay focused on the mission until we can wrap this up and send everyone home."
Resources remaining on the Boze and Rainbow Creek Fires include: 8 crews, 1 light helicopter, 10 engines, 1 dozer, 7 water tenders, 206 overhead and 2 camp crews. In total, 446 people are assigned to managing these fires. These numbers are decreasing rapidly with accelerated demobilization.
The large area closure around the fire will be reduced today. However, local hunters may find access into their favorite hunting areas in the upper South Umpqua River still unreachable. With rifle season quickly approaching, hunters need to plan ahead to access other locations. Additionally, public-use restrictions in the North Umpqua, Diamond Lake and Tiller ranger districts have been removed. Please visit the Umpqua National Forest website at www.fs.fed.us/r6/umpqua for the detailed description of the revised closure area. ###
