Firefighters Getting Upper Hand on Willamette National Forest Fires

The majority of the fires are single trees that were struck by lightning.

File photo

(EUGENE) - Firefighters made good progress Wednesday on the numerous small fires that are scattered throughout the Willamette National Forest.

Afternoon winds and warmer temperatures increased fire activity at 3 locations and each of those fires grew to approximately 5 acres in size.

In general, though, cool temperatures, the efforts of ground crews, helicopter water drops, and retardant delivered by air tankers are limiting fire spread.

Crews will be out again Thursday and anticipate a successful day.

The number of fires has grown from Tuesday’s count of 35 to a total of 51 fires; of those 51 fires, 15 are out, 3 are mentioned above and the remainder have various degrees of activity, but are generally low intensity, very small fires.

In fact, the majority of the fires are single trees that were struck by lightning.

There are no threats to structures, developments or communities at this time.