September 8th, 2014 Volume 11, Issue 36 Smoke from the happy Camp complex fire (left) and the 790 Sky Lakes wilderness fire (right) viewed from the junction of South Chiloquin Rd and Modoc Point Rd on Saturday Sep 6th. Photo courtesy of Joan Rowe Caryopteris Tall Garden Phlox Golden Glow & Double Yarrow Potentilla 1 There will be NO Bingo at the Community Center until November when we will have a big Thanksgiving and Christmas event with big gifts as well as the payoffs with Bingo. We'll have a great meal and play Bingo to raise money for the Community Center and all it's wonderful projects. Change of date: Hold November 22nd for a rockin' fun night of food, fun and Bingo! Job Opening at Chiloquin Branch Library Klamath County is advertising a position at the Chiloquin Branch Library. The application deadline for this position has been extended until September 8th. If you are familiar with the library, excited to provide great service to your fellow community members, and proficient with computers, you are especially encouraged to apply. This is a substitute/on-call position. The normal work schedule is less than 19 hours per week; exact schedules are assigned by management. Candidates must apply online at the Klamath County website (http://klamathcounty.org). The direct link to the job posting, full job description, and application page is https://klamathcounty.applicantpro.com/jobs/41800.html. Applications must be submitted no later than Monday, September 8th. For more information about the position, please contact Wes Stone at 541-882-8894 ext. 13. Chiloquin Community Calendars Friends of the Chiloquin Library put out the Chiloquin Community Calendar each year. It is one of our very important fundraisers. We fund several children’s programs plus other library projects. If you haven’t seen the calendar, it has a picture by one of the elementary students that is the winner of our art contest in the spring. It has business ads from local businesses, and on each day of each month there are birthdays, anniversaries, memorials and meeting notices. On the 2015 calendar, the picture will be artwork by 2nd grader, Shayla Ochoa. If anyone is interested in putting their family birthdays, anniversaries or memorials on the calendar it is only 50¢ per listing. We have a limited capacity for business ads but still have some room. It is a great way to advertise. If you would like to ask about an ad, put something on the calendar or order a calendar (they make great Christmas gifts and only cost $4.50 including shipping) please call the library at 783-3315 and leave your name and number to have a member of the calendar committee contact you. You can also sign up at the library to be contacted. If you ordered a calendar or put listings on the calendar last year, you will automatically be contacted by one of the calendar committee persons. Friday Farmer’s Market Don’t forget to come out for the Friday Farmer’s Market on the corner of Chocktoot and 1st Ave. It runs from about 1PM to 4PM and there are lots of goodies now that the produce is finally starting to come in. 2 3 Very heavy smoke over Ashland-Medford in the Rogue Valley this last weekend. All coming from the Happy Camp fire complex. Mobile Pump/Tank Combination Modules A new tool is being used for fighting fires in remote, unroaded areas. These mobile pump/tank modules are self contained water delivery system with a pump, tank and hose system. It can be flown into areas with medium (Type 2) helicopters or larger. The unit is self-leveling, allowing it to be used in more places than traditional tanks. There are several brands available. Klump Pumps In his early years Jim Klump was a smoke jumper out of Redding, California, and later worked in fire and fuels management for the Klamath National Forest. He was a Section Chief for one of California Type 1 incident management teams and later retired as Division Chief in Truckee, California. Throughout his career, he kept hearing at After Action Reviews on wildfires the same thing “if we had only had some water.” He believed when on initial attack on spot fires in wilderness or remote and unroaded areas… “a little water in the right place goes a long way.” He had an idea for a water delivery system that he thought would help solve this problem. 4 In 2003, Jim made his first prototype and has since perfected his “Klump Pump” system. He has 11 units available for use today. As of this article, seven of his Klump Pumps are in use on the Klamath National Forest at the Happy Camp and Man Fires in Northern California. This fire season his pumps have been dispatched to four fires in Oregon and to nine assignments nationally. The Klump Pump will hold 1000 gallons of water. The self contained unit is equipped with a 13hp motor, 2” suction capacity, a complement of hoses including; 1000 ft. of 1 ½ inch, 800 ft. of 1”, 400 ft. of ¾” and 24 ft. of 2” suction hose. It is also capable of delivering foam or gel type retardant. It has a mechanical self leveling system. It can be driven or flown to a site. It weighs 1600 lbs. and can be dropped in with a “Type II” or larger helicopter. MIST Tanks Just southeast of Prospect, Oregon, a similar, but more recently developed mobile pump/tank module, or in this case “Minimal Impact Suppression Tanks” (MIST), are being used to suppress a wildfire in the Sky Lakes Wilderness Area. Two MIST units were deployed on the 790 Fire aiding the 440 firefighters “spiked out” (A remote camp usually near a fireline, and lacking the logistical support that a larger fire camp would have) in the Wilderness to go “direct” (Fire tactics applied directly to unburned fuels. This can be water, chemicals or physically with manpower) to contain the fire and extend a hose network across the western flank. Benefits Having a water source makes building a fireline directly against the fire’s edge safer in these remote areas. For mop-up operations, instead of using helicopters to cool hot spots along the burning edge, firefighters can use these mobile pump/tank modules as a ready source of water to secure the containment line with less environmental impacts. This can result in less helicopter use, expense and exposure to hazard since targeted mop-up is better done on the ground than from the air. These systems can help firefighters to avoid relying on water from sensitive high elevation lakes and streams, especially during droughty years like 2014. 5 Sky Lakes Wilderness 790 Fire Update Extracting crews out of the way of the 790 Fire. September 6, 2014 Video by Manny Video: Lost Creek Lake, Oregon Scooper Planes working on the 790 Fire Video: 790 Fire Skycrane loading up at heliwell to fill "MIST". The "MIST" is used in Fire Suppression mop-up operations. Photos from the South Central Oregon Fire Management Partnership – Scofmp – Facebook page Photo from south of the fire by Brett Lutz. Air Crane dumping water on the SW portion of the 790 Fire Sept. 4, 2014 Smoke jumper coming in on a landing into the Sky Lakes Wilderness. 6 9/7/2014 9:00 a.m. PT Fire Information: (206) 947-9729 http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4095 A public meeting will be held Monday night at the Prospect Community Center located at 305 Red Blanket Rd., Prospect, Oregon. This meeting will begin at 7pm. Fire and agency officials will be on hand to present information regarding current and planned operations. Yesterday’s Evenings Operations-- After several days of hot and dry weather, gusty east winds pushed the fire down Big Ben Creek drainage. The fire spotted out of the SW flank and spread west an additional 555 acres. The fire has reached the boundary of the Sky Lakes Wilderness with several spot fires west into Jackson County. Fixed wing aircraft and helicopters worked into the evening to limit the fire spread. Based on current infrared mapping, the fire was held in check on the ridge above the Wickiup Creek drainage. The direct line against the fire is still intact on the north, east, and southern flanks. The fire remains east of the indirect contingency line. To ensure firefighter safety, crews on the western flanks came off the fire line yesterday. Brushing and clearing the contingency lines outside the west side the wilderness continued. Weather and Fire Behavior – Smoke may hamper air operations early in the day as an inversion is not expected to lift before 11am. Winds will start out light, 3-6 mph with gusts of 9 mph out of the northwest on the ridges in the afternoon. Partly cloudy and very dry conditions remain with only a slight increase in relative humidity. Forest fuels are critically dry. Individual and group tree torching, active interior fire and pockets of flare ups could occur as a result of the weather today. Today’s Operations – Crews will begin to work to connect the northwest corner of the fire with the indirect contingency line to the west. Helicopters will be used to reinforce the retardant line on the ridge to the south of the SW flank of the fire. Crews will continue on the indirect contingency line which will be extended further south on existing roads. Closures - A new closure order was issued yesterday which will include all Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest lands east of the western boundary of the Forest between the Middle Fork of the Rogue River and Whiskey Springs Campground.