By Stuart Tomlinson
The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)
Copyright 2006 The Oregonian
All Rights Reserved
Fire bosses will be keeping their eyes on the skies starting today as hot weather and thunderstorms are forecast, raising the specter of more lightning-caused blazes in the Oregon and Washington Cascades.
“This could be a critical week for us. We’re expecting hot conditions through Tuesday, with more lighting strikes coming up the Cascades Sunday afternoon,” said Jeree Mills, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland.
Temperatures are forecast to spike into the 90s through the weekend in Western Oregon and Southwest Washington, and into the 80s in the Cascades, with lower humidity.
Helicopters and crews were being staged up and down the Cascades, from Moses Lake, Wash., to Redmond and the Klamath air bases in Oregon, in preparation for quick attacks on any new fires, Mills said Friday.
On Friday, relatively calm winds, low temperatures and high humidity continued to help firefighters contain a wildfire burning in wilderness east of Mount Hood.
The Bluegrass fire, at 1,000 acres, is the largest fire in the Mount Hood complex and is 25 percent contained. The smaller Gumjuwac fire is contained, as are about a dozen smaller wildfires in the Badger Creek Wilderness sparked by lightning strikes Aug. 7.
For the first time in 10 days, cars and trucks were allowed to travel on Thursday night on Oregon 35 between Government Camp and Hood River. However, pilot cars are escorting vehicles from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily between mileposts 67 and 71, and the section is closed from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. so firefighters can shuttle equipment to the firelines.
Fire bosses said 736 people are engaged in fighting fires in the Mount Hood complex.
In other areas:
* The Lake George fire is burning on 4,435 acres in heavy bug-killed timber in the Mount Washington Wilderness, 13 miles west of Sisters. Crews made progress along the fire’s western perimeter and are using an ancient lava flow as a natural firebreak. The fire is 20 percent contained.
* The Blister fire, burning on 445 acres of timber 25 miles southeast of Molalla, is 10 percent contained. Four helicopters were used to assist in burnout operations, officials said, by flying equipment to remote areas, cooling hotspots with water drops and monitoring the fire near containment lines.