John Day, Prairie City and Hines, OR. – (November 19, 2021) Fire officials continue to monitor conditions for prescribed fire operations daily. All prescribed burn activity is weather and condition dependent.
Emigrant Creek Ranger District has completed approximately 3850 acres of grapple piles. Work was completed on a few landing piles in the Soldier project area this week. Crews will be burning landing piles in the Soldier, TC, Fly and Wolf project areas for the remainder of this week and into next week.
Prairie City Ranger District has completed approximately 2800 acres of landing piles in Byar’s units. Work will continue for the remainder of the week in the Byar’s and Black Butte Fire areas. Crews will be monitoring conditions in Elk 16 and Summit Project areas for continuation of pile burning in the upcoming weeks.
Blue Mountain Ranger District have completed 636 acres of hand piles, 398 acres of grapple piles and 4036.7 acres of landing piles for a current total of 5070.7 acres.
For the safety of firefighters and the public, roads and areas of prescribed fire activity will be signed. Please avoid these areas so as not to interfere with ongoing operations. For safety, roads, trails and areas may need to close temporarily as firefighter operations are taking place. Smoky conditions may also reduce visibility to a level that would require additional temporary closures. During prescribed fire operations, there is potential for impacts to camping and hunting. Hunters are advised to plan ahead; for their safety, they should not camp in or near an area of prescribed fire activity.
With the potential for smoke to settle in certain areas during active operations, the public can monitor the smoke and air quality in our area and across the state by visiting http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/.
Additional information regarding prescribed burning on the Malheur National Forest is available on InciWeb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7426, or by viewing the Prescribed Fire Activity interactive map at USFS R6 Tri-Forest Prescribed Fire Map.