Heavy fuels and dense brush have hampered firefighter’s efforts to complete the control lines around 100% of the fire. Tonight’s night shift resources will concentrate on patrolling and monitoring the fire. Tonight is the last night shift. The fire footprint remains at 2,435 acres.
Structure assessment teams arrived from Idaho and met with Lincoln County representatives to begin the structural assessment process. This process involves going to each property impacted by the fire and inventorying the structures that were damaged and identifying the extent of the damage.
Oregon National Guard resources arrived today to provide additional security at road junctions. This security is intended to further limit access to the fire area and evacuated neighborhoods. Oregon Department of Transportation employees are providing the support for the Highway 18 closure. The Incident Management Team would like to thank everyone for respecting these closures.
Additional Oregon National Guard personnel are arriving to help bolster the hand crews that have been working on the fire. These crews will be woven into the operation and will be mopping up beginning tomorrow. Covid-19 proves to be a new challenge in regard to fighting large fires, but the command staff is committed to minimizing the potential for Covid-19 spread.
All assigned personnel to the fire are required to follow Oregon Health Authority’s Guidance to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The Incident Management Team has a Health Liaison who works with local public health officials to coordinate the Covid-19 response and needs of the incident. Beginning tomorrow, there will be one daily update from the Echo Mountain Complex. This update will be issued each morning.