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Stouts fire, weather pose firefighting challenge By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Aug 01, 2015 12:00 AM A A Firefighters on the Stouts fire in southern Douglas County braced themselves Saturday for a long battle with the blaze that is gobbling up thousands of acres of timber as it remains virtually uncontained. Fire officials said the Stouts fire, burning near Milo, about 12 miles east of Canyonville in Douglas County, had grown to 8,500 acres, threatening the possibility of further evacuations in nearby rural communities. "It kept burning pretty good up until 3 a.m.," said Justin de Ruyter, an information officer for the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Green Team, as he pointed to an infrared map of the fire produced overnight. "It's crossed Callahan Creek — we know it's gotten that far." The fire marshal's office and the Oregon Department of Forestry are operating under a unified command to coordinate the structural and wildland firefighting efforts. City and structural firefighters under the direction of the state fire marshal are working with homeowners to help protect their homes if the fire reaches them, while wildland firefighters have been placed under ODF's command. At the fire's command center at Days Creek Charter School, fire command vehicles from Clackamas, Lane, Linn-Benton, Lincoln, Marion and Yamhill counties could be seen parked side by side with trailers and vehicles from ODF and the U.S. Forest Service. "We have at least six (structural) task forces," de Ruyter said. Officials said that following Gov. Kate Brown's Friday invocation of the the Conflagration Act, more than 800 firefighters had been assigned to various details on the Stouts fire. In a field near the command center, hundreds of tents stretched as far as the eye could see, as exhausted firefighters napped nearby in camp chairs. Those firefighters are likely to see countless more hours of work in the days ahead, as officials said the blaze shows no signs of stopping. "It's zero percent contained as of this (Saturday) morning," de Ruyter said, adding that lines had built around some portions of the fire but that they hadn't been reinforced. "It will get bigger." Smoke from the Stouts fire and the Cable Crossing fire east of Glide continued to drift south as the two combined to exceed 9,500 acres burned. The Cable Crossing fire, which started Tuesday from as-yet unknown causes, has since grown to 1,100 acres, about 15 percent of which was reportedly contained by Saturday. Officials said Highway 138 will remain open with a pilot car escort through the fire area. The Stouts fire was first spotted Thursday afternoon and blew up into a timber-fed blaze exhibiting "extreme fire conditions," according to firefighting officials, with flames crowning in tree tops and spreading rapidly in the winds of that evening. ODF spokesman Brian Ballou said there was initially some sharing of equipment and personnel between the Stouts fire and the Cable Crossing fire, from which some helicopters had to be diverted to fight the newer blaze, but that the larger fire quickly received its own dedicated resources. "We'd already ordered crews and equipment to start coming (to the Stouts fire) on Monday," he said. The news Saturday from weather services was not encouraging. Temperatures peaked at 106 degrees in Medford, which set high temperature daily records of 107 on Thursday and 109 on Friday. "A drastic, dangerous (change in fire behavior) would be if we got dry lightning and downdrafts," Ballou said, explaining both are expected to remain possibilities through the weekend. National Weather Service forecasters said the greatest threat for the storms is expected to be during the afternoon and evening hours, but that they may continue through the night in some locations. Winds blowing from the north Friday had pushed a mass of smoke into the Rogue Valley, but forecasters expected winds to shift to the northwest late Saturday, possibly granting residents a brief respite from already heavy smoke levels. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has issued a Level 3 evacuation — calling for immediate evacuation — for residents in the Azalea area from Upper Cow Creek to Snow Creek East. There is a Level 2 notice for residents near the Galesville Dam up to Snow Creek, warning them to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. "We've put some of our structural-protection resources into Drew," de Ruyter said, pointing on the map to a small community of about 20 structures roughly 10 miles from Milo, which received its own Level 2 notice from the Sheriff's Office at 5:45 p.m. "We're going to keep doing full day, full night shifts for the forseeable future," Ballou said." Reach Mail Tribune reporter Thomas Moriarty at [email protected] or 541-776-4471. null null null Kimberly Elliott wears a protective mask while pumping gas at the Shady Cove Valero gas station on Saturday. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Cameron Hartness, of Myrtle Creek, climbs a log while cutting downed trees inside the Stouts fire on Saturday. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch