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New lightning fires a challenge to find in the smoke A burnout operation lights up the night Tuesday at the High Cascades Complex near Crater Lake. [InciWeb photo] Thursday Sep 7, 2017 at 10:25 AM Sep 7, 2017 at 12:29 PM Ryan Pfeil Mail Tribune @RyanPfeil Tracking down new fires started by a round of Wednesday lightning in Jackson County has proved a challenge for wildland firefighters because of the smoke strangling the region. Typically, Oregon Department of Forestry firefighters will scatter throughout Jackson and Josephine counties to get a better jump on possible lightning-sparked blazes. When a strike touches down, agency officials get a latitude and longitude on their lightning tracker and dispatch the closest engine crew. When that crew rolls up to the general area, they'll often have a column of smoke to guide them in the rest of the way like a sooty lighthouse beacon. "When we have this overwhelming amount of smoke ... it makes it twice to three times as difficult," said ODF public information officer Melissa Cano. "We still have firefighters out there right now, searching, and they have been searching all night." ODF firefighters have found six new fire starts following a volley of 221 strikes that peppered Jackson County over a 24-hour period, along with the 45 that hit Josephine County. Five of those — flareups near Cave Junction, Butte Falls, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument boundary at Parker Creek and Lost Creek Reservoir — have been 100 percent mopped and lined. The sixth, dubbed the East Antelope fire, has grown to about 3 acres in size, though Cano anticipates it soon will be quashed. The fire is burning six miles east of Roxy Ann Peak on Bureau of Land Management lands. Fire officials will continue to patrol through the day and tonight even as more strikes and rain pelt the Rogue Valley. Firefighters will patrol the ground, assisted by an aircraft that will utilize thermal imaging technology to search for new fires when flying conditions allow. Most of the Jackson County lightning strikes touched down east of Medford, though some also touched down in the Applegate in the same area as the Miller Complex, weather officials said. "I wouldn't say they were co-located, but they were relatively close," meteorologist Brad Schaaf said. Paltry amounts of rain fell across parts of the region overnight — Medford got 1/100th of an inch, for example — but others received significant amounts. The Orleans Complex in Siskiyou County, California, received 22/100ths of an inch in a 15-minute period, Schaaf said. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue in the region today, with a red flag warning in effect until 11 p.m. Weather officials also have issued a flash flood watch because of the potential for significant rainfall in burn-scarred terrain that has more difficulty absorbing the moisture. The 1,698 firefighters combating the Chetco Bar fire, Oregon's largest at nearly 177,000 acres in size, benefited from the cooler, wetter weather, according to the Information Incident System website. They will continue to construct more firelines and clear brush to strengthen existing firelines below the fire's southwest perimeter. The blaze remains at 5 percent containment. The High Cascades Complex, made up of multiple fires near Crater Lake, remains at 18 percent containment and is 52,775 acres in size. The Miller Complex, burning in the Applegate 17 miles east of Cave Junction, is 25 percent contained and 32,718 acres. Air quality for the past 24 hours at Cave Junction, Applegate, Grants Pass, Medford and Ashland sites remain at "very unhealthy" levels, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Air Quality Index data. Shady Cove is at "unhealthy." The ongoing smoky weather continues to impact outdoor events: The fifth annual King of the Rogue rafting and kayaking races planned for Saturday at the Rogue River's Ti’lomikh Falls outside of Gold Hill has been cancelled and rescheduled for Oct. 14. Band du Pays Swing's performance Saturday at Paschal Winery in Talent has been canceled. Shae Celine and Don Harriss have postponed today's performance at DANCIN Vineyards outside Jacksonville. Michael Franti and Spearhead's Sept. 6 concert at Britt has been rescheduled to Sept. 20. The Foundations for Recovery Festival scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Harry and David Field has been moved to Sept. 29-30. — Reach reporter Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil. Chetco Bar 9-7     Miller Complex 9-7   High Cascades 9-5