Pole Creek Fire - September 24, 2012
Incident: Pole Creek Wildfire
Released: 9/24/2012
Firefighters were able to make excellent progress on the Pole Creek fire yesterday. The fire spotted across the line west of Trout Creek Butte in several places on Saturday. Engines, dozers and hand crews established lines around all known spots by Sunday evening. The fire grew to 26,200 acres as estimated from an Infrared flight early Monday morning. Crews will continue to strengthen, mop-up, and rehabilitate lines today.
WEATHER DISCUSSION: High Pressure will settle in at the surface and aloft on Monday, resulting in warmer and drier air once again. Expect lighter terrain driven, and channeling winds Monday, ahead of a mainly dry, slow moving cold front that looks to sweep in from the northwest Monday evening into Tuesday morning.
ALL major routes remain open to tourist destinations in Sisters and other central Oregon communities. For information on smoke tips, visit the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) at http://tinyurl.com/bm8txvw, or call (503) 229-6397.
Residents in the Crossroads and Edgington/Remuda areas remain under a Level 2, pre-evacuation alert (west of the 16 Road and South of Highway 20 in the vicinity of Sisters). Public safety agencies will keep the public updated about when to leave and which routes to take. In addition, agencies will notify residents when the alert is lifted. In the event that there is a need for evacuation, citizens in affected areas will receive a call from 911 Dispatch with a recorded message with specific evacuation information. To receive these messages on cell phones, citizens are encouraged to visit http://tinyurl.com/bwvm5o8 and register their numbers with the Citizen Alert program. At this time, there are no towns, subdivisions or structures under evacuation.
For firefighter and public safety, the current closure area includes the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) between Trail #3531 and the PCT Trailhead on Highway 242. PCT hikers have a reroute option using the Scott Trail traveling west to Highway 242. The closure still includes Forest Roads 15 (Pole Ck RD) & 16 (Three Creeks Rd) south to FS 4601 Road. Maps and descriptions are available at Forest Service offices and at http://inciweb.org/incident/3244/.
