A landscape photo from the Timber Crater 6 Fire, Division P showing a water supply station. Six, 1,500-gallon round, orange water tanks called “pumpkins” are in use. (Inciweb)

CLICK FOR LARGERMap of the location of the Timber Crater 6 Fire. Located on the northeast corner of Crater Lake National Park. (Timber Crater 6 Fire Information Center) — CLICK FOR LARGER
Map of the location of the Timber Crater 6 Fire. Located on the northeast corner of Crater Lake National Park. (Timber Crater 6 Fire Information Center)

Crater Lake National Park, OR – The Timber Crater 6 Fire remains at 3,126 acres, is 80% contained, and is staffed with 352 personnel. The eastern portion of the fire is in patrol status. Crews on the southern boundary continue to mop up farther into the interior to complete the remaining 20% of open line. Single tree torching was observed in the interior of the fire area. Heavy fuels in the interior will continue to smolder and burn, putting up occasional smoke. This will continue until a season ending weather event, such as a heavy rain or blanketing snow extinguishes the last of the heavy fuels.

Helitack firefighters carefully gridded the Timber Crater 9 Fire and finding no heat, declared it out. All remaining equipment and supplies were back hauled. The Timber Crater 9 Fire will no longer be listed in daily reports and will not be included in mapping.

The Timber Crater 10 Fire stands at 193 acres and is 20% contained. Yesterday fire crews completed constructing containment lines. Pumpkins, 1,500-gallon round orange water tanks were deployed along with gas-powered pumps to charge the more than 2 miles of hose lines firefighters ran to provide water on the fire line. For areas beyond the hoses’ reach, bladder bags are being used to cool hot spots. A bladder bag is a backpack a firefighter carries that holds five gallons of water and weighs 45 pounds. It has a short hose with a pump nozzle. As mop up continues crews are moving smoldering logs into the interior of the fire so that they can be safely consumed without threatening containment. These stacks of heavy fuels are called bone piles.

Chipping operations along forest roads will be complete today. Branches and small trees that had to be cut to improve fire lines are being chipped into biodegradable mulch and dispersed over the area. The road repair group will also complete their work on Forest Road 70 today. Graders and water tenders have only 2 ½ miles of road remaining to be treated.

Today temperatures will be cooler with a high of 84°. Winds will be from the west at 10 miles per hour, with gusts to 15 mph. Relative humidity should range from 25 to 40 percent. No wetting rain is forecast, but cooler temperatures and higher humidity will reduce fire activity and help firefighters to make progress on mop up.

Smoke will be present in the park for most of the day with potentially hazardous levels in the late afternoon and early evening. . For more information about smoke conditions from air monitoring sites, visit http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/. For hourly updates visit https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl. Smoke monitor #19 is located at Diamond Lake and smoke monitor #20 is located at park headquarters. More information is also available at https://tools.airfire.org/outlooks/CraterLakeArea.

Information provided by Crater Lake National Park, Northwest Incident Management Team 9.

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