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ENTERPRISE — Given the progress against the Double Creek Fire and the Eagle Cap Wilderness fires, Friday, Sept. 16, will be the last day of Pacific Northwest Team 2’s assignment.

The Southern Area Blue Team will assume command of the fires at 6 a.m. on Sept. 17, according to a press release.

Containment of the Double Creek Fire increased to 27% by 8 a.m. Sept. 16, which is up 4% from the previous day, with the at 157,185 acres and 740 personnel assigned. The acreage is an increase from 157,088 the previous day.

The wilderness fires remain zero percent contained. The Sturgill Fire increased to 20,075 acres with 52 personnel assigned and the Nebo Fire increased to 12,588 acres with 92 personnel assigned. The Goat Mountain 2 Fire is at 536 acres with no personnel assigned. Each of the wilderness fires increased less than 100 acres from the previous day.
A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Joseph Community Events Center to discuss the fires and it will be streamed live on Facebook.

The Sturgill Fire is in patrol status as of late Sept. 15. Remaining smokejumper crews and medical personnel that completed structure protection were pulled from the fire. It will be monitored by air until weather conditions change and firefighters can be flown in to maintain a presence at the Minam Lodge and other values, possibly as soon as Sept. 16.

Additional rain fell across the fire areas Sept. 15, coupled with thunderstorms and lightning. Four new fire starts from lightning strikes were reported and PNW Team 2 was requested to respond to one with initial attack support.

Crews made great progress on the Double Creek Fire containing the area that spotted to the west of the Imnaha River, which will now be in patrol status like the majority of the Imnaha corridor.

The fire has had minimal growth to the south and an additional hot shot crew was inserted to help improve control lines around the Imnaha River Woods. There was moderate fire activity in timber to the north and an initial attack crew was added to support the area. Crews are working closely with Oregon Department of Forestry to keep the fire off private ground by building lines along Horse and Lightning creeks.

The wilderness fires continue to be managed to protect public and private infrastructure, while playing a natural role within designated wilderness.

On the Sturgill Fire, crews will continue thinning fuels on Lostine Road and others will continue creating a shaded fuel break to the north on Bear Creek Road where the trees are thinned and pruned to reduce the fire potential.

The Nebo Fire received almost half an inch of rain accompanied by lightning strikes Sept. 15. Crews were pulled from the 39 Road chipping project as a safety precaution after lightning touched ground close to an engine. They will work to complete chipping on the remaining one mile of 39 Road on Sept. 16 in order to move those resources to fireline projects to the north and east.

Fire activity on the Goat Mountain 2 Fire remains minimal and it will continue to be monitored by air.

Cool, cloudy and wet weather passed through the fire area Sept. 15, as showers and thunderstorms moved across the Wallowa Mountains and over the incident camp in Joseph through much of the morning and afternoon. Rainfall totals across the Nebo and Sturgill fires ranged from just a trace to almost half an inch. Less rainfall was observed across the Double Creek, where generally less than a quarter inch of rain was observed. The weather Sept. 16 is expected to be sunnier and warmer, but light precipitation is forecast for the weekend.

The Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office rescinded all evacuation levels Sept. 14.

For more information, call 541-216-4579 or email 2022.doublecreek@firenet.gov. Information also is available on the InciWeb site at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8366.