As of Friday morning, Incident Command reported that the fire is 7 percent contained. It now covers 33,382 acres. Over 900 firefighters are battling the fire. I-84 remains closed due to fire burning over it and rocks and trees in many places have fallen onto the highway.
Eric Risdal, Incident Command Division Supervisor, said yesterday that they plan to start burnout operations from roads near Mitchell Point and Wahtum Lake to rob fire of fuel.
Scott Stanton, Incident Command Operations Chief, who took this reporter into the closed fire area Thurday, said it could be two weeks for containment of the fire. Stanton also said there will be a significant amount of work for ODOT to open the highway once it is safe.
Yesterday a large Chinook helicopter dropped water from the Columbia on fires threatening homes in Cascade Locks. This helicopter carries 2,600 gallons of water and can make a turn-around in one and half minutes.
As an indicator of shifting weather, it sprinkled Thursday evening.
Thanks for this reporting, Jurgen. It is extremely helpful to have on-the-ground, tangible, practical information amid the barrage of devastating images and footage that can entirely overwhelm us.
Thank you, Betsy. We’re a bit weary, but very glad to help in this way.
Thanks for the update. And great photos!!