Single Publication

Falls and Telephone Fires Update for Aug. 8, 2024

Telephone Fire Quick Facts:

Size: 53,487                 Start Date: July 22, 2024                      Location: 12 miles NE of Burns, OR

Containment: 59%     Total Personnel: 504 personnel                     Cause: Lightning/Natural

Resources Assigned: 14 hand crews, 22 engines, 4 bulldozers, 7 water tenders, 4 skidders

Falls Fire Quick Facts: 

Size: 147,403               Start Date: July 10, 2024                    Location: 13 Miles NW of Burns, OR

Containment: 76%     Total Personnel: 553                           Cause: Human-caused, under investigation

Structures Triaged:    Residences: 386 / Commercial: 119 / Outbuildings: 760

Resources Assigned:  25 hand crews, 40 engines, 17 bulldozers, 22 water tenders, 6 masticators, 11 skidders

Sand Mountain Fire Quick Facts:

Size: 7,542                   Start Date: July 25, 2024                    Location: 17 miles SW of Seneca, OR

Containment: 0%       Total Personnel: Staffed by Falls Fire  Cause: Lightning/Natural

Other Fires Quick Facts:

Whiskey Mountain: 4,345 acres / Cow Creek: 86 acres / Parasol: 485 acres / Poison: 1,060 acres / Ritter: 461

Total Personnel: Staffed by Falls Fire   

Aerial resources assigned: Two Type 1 helicopters / One Type 1 Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) assigned and available to all fires in the area

Priorities for Thursday, August 8: 

1. Initial Attack (IA): The potential for new fire starts remains significant; firefighters are ready to respond to any new threats and remain vigilant and focused on IA.
2. West side of the Telephone Fire/King Mountain area
3. Northeast side of the Falls/Sand Fire along the 31 road

Fire Summaries:  Low relative humidity, surface winds, and unstable air continue to drive the potential for moderate fire activity. These conditions are challenging firefighters working to deepen containment lines.

Telephone Fire: The Telephone Fire remained moderately active despite softer winds.  The hard work of both the day and night shifts yesterday resulted in major increases in blackline.  Blackline is a burned-out area of fuel that widens containment lines by ensuring there are no unburned fuels between the fire edge and the fireline.  Crews continued working to build line in the area of earlier fire spread across the 2820 road near King Mountain, making excellent progress and completing the line to 600 Road.  Today, resources will continue to patrol and mop-up, gaining depth on large portions of the fire perimeter, and will work on adding more line in the Pine Creek Canyon area.  Given the large perimeter and ongoing critical fire weather, work is expected to be challenging, but crews remain vigilant and committed to deepening containment lines and securing any problem areas.

Falls/Sand Mountain Fires:  Yesterday, resources continued holding the southern and western perimeters, patrolling and monitoring throughout. The northern perimeter where the Falls Fire joins the Sand Mountain Fire remained the most active.  In the northeast road preparation continued on the southern end of the 31 Road, while on the north end, firefighters secured numerous spot fires.  Crews are preparing to conduct burn out operations on a five-mile section of the 31 Road starting tonight. This is likely to be a long-term effort given the challenging fuel types in the area and dry, potentially windy weather conditions. A burnout operation removes unburned fuel between the containment line and the fire edge to reduce the potential for further fire activity. Burning out also allows better control over the intensity of the fire against the containment line.  With the significant progress made over the recent shifts, crews will also focus on deepening containment lines.  As before, initial attack remains the highest priority to limit new fire activity.

Weather:  Today, slightly cooler temperatures will prevail again. Increasing clouds are expected and conditions will remain seasonably hot and dry with terrain driven winds in the morning. This afternoon, gusts up to 20mph are possible along with increasing air instability. Looking ahead, there is an increased chance of showers and thunderstorms in the region, but that will end before the weekend.

Evacuations: The Harney County Sheriff’s Office is again lowering evacuation levels for the Falls and Telephone Fires 2024 due to the increasing containment of the fires. Downgrading from Level 3 to Level 2 (Be Set):  Zones 025C, 049B and 049C—The area east of the Telephone Fire that includes Pine Creek Road to the bottom of Stinking Water Pass on Highway 20. Refer to the map here https://bit.ly/FallsFireEvac for full details.  Grant County Emergency Management has also reduced its Falls Fire evacuation zones.  The zone South of Swamp Creek Lane and the Burns-Izee Rd. and North of the Harney County line has been downgraded to a Level 2; the zone north of the Harney County line, East of Antelope Creek and South of Logan Valley Lane has been downgraded to a Level 1.

For the most accurate evacuation information, please visit the Harney County Sheriff’s evacuation map here: https://bit.ly/FallsFireEvac, or the Grant County Emergency Management Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068819321423.

Closures:  A closure is in effect for portions of the Malheur National Forest west of 395B, north of Mt. Vernon and south of Long Creek, in the Fox Valley area, including all roads, trails, and camping locations within the fire closure area. Due to control and containment measures portions of the Malheur National Forest previously under the South Area Closure are now reduced.  A detailed map of the closure is available on the Malheur National Forest website (https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/malheur/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1198892) and local in U.S. Forest Service offices.

Investigation: U.S. Forest Service fire investigators are seeking the public’s assistance with any tips or information pertinent to the start of the Falls Fire on the Malheur National Forest. Please submit any information that could assist fire investigation efforts to SM.FS.R6TipHotLine@usda.gov.  

Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR): TFRs in the area have been changing; pilots should check the latest information on the Federal Aviation Administration TFR website prior to flying: https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/index.html

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/p/Falls-Fire-2024-61562126623985/

Falls Fire InciWeb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/ormaf-falls-fire

Telephone Fire InciWeb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/ormaf-telephone-fire

Fire Information Line: 541-208-4370, staffed 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Email: 2024.Falls@firenet.gov

Harney County Non-emergency Evacuation Questions: 541-589-5579

Air Quality Questions: 541-573-2271. Air quality information, searchable by zip code: https://fire.airnow.gov/

Smoke Outlooks: https://outlooks.airfire.org/outlook