CA-KNF-?

Anyone have info on a fire northwest of Happycamp? I saw the tankers flight paths out of medford on flight radar24.

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Oregon is working a fire thats putting up a pretty good column, may be that?

Check out NorCal Fireweather Group on Face Book.

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On satellite it looks just North of the CA Border

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Satellite Pic:

09%20PM

The fire north of Happy Camp is the Natchez fire on the Rogue Siskiyou. The KNF does not have any fires worth mentioning at this time. The Natchez and the Hendrix are both just north of the KNF with the Hendrix being closer to Ashland area.

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I’m hearing reports that Natchez made it over the ridge last night, putting some of the fire onto the KNF now. MODIS has a hit from 2am on the KNF side as well.

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The Rogue Siskiyou does spill into California in that area so even though it has crossed the state line it may not be on the KNF.

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The entirety of the Natchez is 3 miles inside CA. On this portion of the forest, the boundary between RSF and KNF is the DelNorte and Siskiyou county lines. I’ve highlighted the SRF in the Google Earth image. The higher resolution VIIRS detections have 3 hits now on the KNF near the top of the ridge.

natchez

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Modis shows hits on the KNF side.

18-10-22-45

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KNF Fire Update 7/18/2018 early afternoon
From Patty Grantham, KNF Supervisor

Hi, everyone. A fair amount has changed since the last update. Most people probably have noticed that.

The good news is that of the 28 lightning starts across the Klamath NF, ranging in size from a single tree to one acre, all are either out, in mop up, or in patrol status. Very nice work by everyone coming together to make that happen. It was a busy and hot time.

Our friends to the north on the Rogue River-Siskiyou NF (RSF) haven’t been as fortunate. Between the RSF and the Oregon Department of Forestry, four incident management teams have been activated. Two of those activations either have or will probably affect the KNF. And they are…

The Natchez fire started just west of the Del Norte/Siskiyou County line (which is also the major ridgeline that separates the RSF and the KNF), about halfway between Poker Flat and Little Grayback, northwest of the town of Happy Camp. There was a cluster of fires in that area, the Natchez being the one that got the largest and pretty much ate the others. Yesterday, this fire crossed over the ridge and onto the Klamath. Estimated total fire size is 250 acres, with the KNF piece about 25 acres of slopover and four spot fires. The team with responsibility for Natchez was ordered by the RSF for Natchez and a few other fires they have; the team is from Washington DNR and fire camp is north of Selma. I have given them the authority to work on the KNF side. Right now, Klamath resources (four crews) are working to encircle the spots and main slopover. More resources are on order with the team. Strong northwest winds are in the forecast, which doesn’t help us much from keeping the KNF piece from marching to the south. The good news is that a number of contingency lines were put in place during last year’s Oak fire and will be very handy for Natchez should it keep marching south. The very good news would be if we are successful in keeping it in a relatively small footprint. People are out working to make that happen. The Grayback road is open.

The column that was very visible from the Yreka area yesterday afternoon/evening was from the Hendrix fire, burning north of Wrangle Gap in the Little Applegate area. Fire size is estimated at 550 acres. This one has a couple of miles to go (moving south) to get on the KNF and it certainly has the potential to do that. The Klamath is looking at contingency lines that we can put in place now in order to stay ahead of this one. Again, northerly winds won’t be our friend today should they materialize. Another Washington DNR team has authority for working this fire (and a few smaller ones in the vicinity).

So, twenty-eight in the “taken care of” column, one in the “working on it” column, and one in the “be watching for” column.

I continue to see our partners in local volunteer departments and at CAL FIRE be the lead responders again and again for human starts during these hot and dry and windy periods. I am dumbfounded that we are continuing to have to use precious firefighting resources, including scarce aviation resources, to respond to things that are preventable, not to mention the threat to human life and property damage that is occurring. I know we can do better than this, and we need to.

Please let me know if you have questions. Thanks for all the support. Patty

Patricia Grantham
Forest Supervisor
Forest Service
Klamath National Forest and Butte Valley National Grassland

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