Springfield, Ore. Firefighters continue to make steady progress on the Holiday Farm Fire. The fire remains in the same foot print and has burned 173,094 acres. Containment has reached 70%.
Firefighters continue to detect and extinguish hot spots near the fire perimeter. They are methodically working inward to ensure that all hot spots and potential threats to the containment line have been mitigated. This patrol and mop up work will be the focus for many of our firefighters for several days.
With hunting season beginning again, fire managers would like to remind people of the area closures. The fire area continues to have a presence of firefighters and heavy equipment and should be avoided. These areas will remain closed indefinitely until all of the land managers can determine the extent of the fire effects.
Information for the Willamette National Forest can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/willamette/fire
Information on Bureau of Land Management closures can be found at: https://www.blm.gov/alert/fire-closures-and-fire-restrictions
Highway 126 will be open for travel on Friday beginning at noon. ODOT is encouraging through traffic to plan for alternate routes, as there will still be recovery work occurring and hazards still exist along the roadway. Anyone traveling the highway should plan for lengthy delays as crews are still working on the recovery effort. The speed limit for the highway through the fire area has been reduced to 45 mph. Extra patrols will be present to enforce this lowered speed limit. For information related to road closures and delays, please visit: www.tripcheck.com or https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Pages/Wildfire.aspx
Weather today will be slightly cooler as the upper level ridge moves to the east. Over the weekend, relative humidity recoveries are predicted to be higher. These conditions will be helpful for firefighters as they continue mopping up.
For fire information inquiries, call (541) 357-9729 or visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7170/. The Holiday Farm Fire Facebook page will
also continue with updates (holidayfarmfire@facebook.com).
