The Lookout Fire outside of McKenzie Bridge is burning just east of the footprint of 2020’s devastating Holiday Farm Fire.
No structures have been lost to the Lookout Fire, but fire officials say they understand if area residents, many of whom lost homes to the Holiday Farm Fire, remain wary.
Fire managers updated community members on their progress at a meeting for the Lookout, Pothole, and Bedrock Fires at McKenzie River High School Wednesday evening.
Dirk Rogers is the Upper McKenzie Deputy Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Manager for the McKenzie River Ranger District. Addressing community members, Rogers said “Upper McKenzie, McKenzie, all of us have been in great communications with the team- Pacific Northwest Team II- making sure everything is in place that needs to be in place to protect the families, the structures, and the stuff that is important to this community."
This involves making fire lines using heavy equipment, including masticators. They're making use of retardant and water drops, acting quickly over three spot fires that cropped up east of Highway 126 about four miles north of Belknap Springs, Wednesday. The largest was about two acres.
Highway 126, one of the main connectors between the South Willamette Valley and Central Oregon, was closed for several hours Wednesday afternoon as those spot fires flared up.
Lane County Sheriff Cliff Harrold addressed the closure. “We didn’t really want to close the highway if we didn’t have to, but ultimately when the fire crossed over to the other side, it was pretty close to the highway.” Harrold added that “They were trying to use their air support to drop water on it. And when you drop water, sometimes things end up out on the highway and we didn’t want any of that to occur for the safety of the motoring public.”
Highway 126 was reopened at around 7:00 Wednesday night.
Level 1, 2, and 3 evacuation notices remain in place around the Lookout Fire. Harrold said while some evacuation levels increased in the area Wednesday, the impacts were few.
“There was one little section that went from yellow (Be Set) to red (Go Now), but the reality is, those areas- we’ve communicated with them consistently over the last couple weeks- Belknap Springs and Paradise Campground which of course has been empty. So the map changed a little bit, but not a significant change,” said Harrold.
Officials say smoke may become more visible in the McKenzie River corridor near Belknap Springs, as the fire slowly backs downhill toward completed containment lines near Highway 126.
The Lookout Fire was started by lightning on August 5, near the top of Lookout Mountain. It has burned 24,575 acres and is 17% contained.
It is burning within the boundary of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in an area with steep slopes, mostly comprised of old growth timber and dense vegetation.
South of the Lookout Fire, the Horse Creek Fire has scorched 763 acres; crews have achieved 10% containment. To the southeast, the 109-acre Pothole Fire has not had much new growth.
940 personnel are working on the Lookout, Horse Creek and Pothole fires.
Meanwhile, fire managers say the Bedrock Fire, which began July 22 near Fall Creek, has not seen measurable growth for several days. It has burned 31,590 acres and is 80% contained. The cause of the Bedrock Fire is under investigation. 631 personnel are assigned to that fire.
