Riverside & Beachie Creek Fires Update – Tuesday October 6, 2020

Riverside Fire Quick Facts
Approx. Size: 138,004 ac.
Containment: 57%
Total Personnel: 269
Start Date: Sept. 8, 2020
Cause: Human

Beachie Creek Fire Quick Facts
Approx. Size: 193,376 ac.
Containment: 59%
Total Personnel: 147
Start Date: August 16, 2020
Cause: Under Investigation

Riverside Fire Public Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RiversideFireInfo
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 509-228-7805, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Beachie Creek Fire Public Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BeachieCreekFire2020
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 541-583-0526, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Canadian Firefighters will return today in an international effort to help extinguish both the Riverside and Beachie Creek fires.

Weather and Fire Behavior: The high-pressure system remains over western Oregon resulting in the warm temperatures and low relative humidity.  Local winds in the fire area should remain terrain driven but could gust up to 15 miles per hour on western portions of the fire.  With the warm and dry weather there could be a slight increase in fire behavior in unsheltered areas and on south facing slopes.

Riverside Fire: Firefighters responded to one 911 report of smoke yesterday on the north end of the fire.  Handheld infrared work continued yesterday and found no heat signatures.  Crews will continue south, searching for heat along the western flank of the fire.  Reconnaissance flights found smoke along the fireline on the southwest portion of the fire.  It was still inside containment lines and was quickly extinguished utilizing engine crews.  Good progress continues to be made with suppression repair work and will continue along contingency lines. 

Beachie Creek Fire: Firefighters are reporting less fire behavior around two thirds of the fire’s edge.  Most of the fire activity is on the eastern side.  Firefighters will continue working with home owners along Highway 22, they responded to one 911 report yesterday.  Suppression repair work will continue today on the south edge of the fire.  Heavy equipment will continue repairing dozer line while crews work to repair handline.  Helicopters remain actively engaged, flying water and doing reconnaissance missions.

Evacuations: There are no evacuations in Clackamas County.  Current evacuation information for Marion County is available at www.co.marion.or.us/Alerts?AlertId=83 or by calling 503-588-5032. Evacuation information for Linn County is available at www.linnsheriff.org/fire_live_updates_sept_2020/ or by calling 541-812-2260.

Closures: The Willamette National Forest lifted restrictions on campfires. The Sept. 25 closure order is still in effect, a list of recreation areas within the fire zone that remain closed can be found at  https://go.usa.gov/xGpeV

Mt. Hood National Forest www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD811247

Willamette National Forest www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/willamette/alerts-notices/?aid=61574  

Bureau of Land Management www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/oregon-washington/fire-restrictions.

Oregon Department of Forestry https://www.oregon.gov/odf/fire/pages/restrictions.aspx

Road Closures on TripCheck: www.tripcheck.com/

Santiam State Forest is closed

Burned Area Emergency Response; https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7222/