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Firefighters tackle Southern Oregon fires By Vickie Aldous Updated: Aug 03, 2022 12:42 PM A A Firefighters were aggressively attacking the Wards Creek Fire east of the town of Rogue River Wednesday. [Photo courtesy of Oregon Department of Forestry] New fire reported outside town of Rogue River A 20-person hand crew and two helicopters are aggressively attacking a 5-acre fire east of Rogue River, the Oregon Department of Forestry reported at 10:55 a.m. Wednesday. The fire was about 40% lined at that time, ODF said. Located in the hills above the 3100 block of Wards Creek Road, the Wards Creek Fire was started by lightning that hit a tree. It was reported Tuesday night, and multiple fire agencies staffed the fire overnight. However, extremely steep terrain and dense brush slowed progress, ODF said. ODF reported no evacuation notices Wednesday morning due to the fire. Fire activity and visible smoke may increase as temperatures rise during the day, ODF warned. On the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, firefighters will continue searching for new fires and attacking confirmed starts. On the High Cascades Ranger District, firefighters contained the Meadow, Maude, Ethel, Outn and Bunchgrass fires and will continue work to contain two additional fires. While hiking out of the Sugar Fire, Crew 62 spotted new smoke in the area and is hiking in to attack it. The fires are scattered across a very broad area ranging from near Crater Lake National Park south to near Fish Lake, officials said. Wednesday helicopter operations will include extracting firefighters from remote fires that have been successfully contained, and returning them to staging for rapid reassignment to any new fires, officials said. Tuesday night, an aerial detection flight was completed over areas affected by Tuesday’s lightning on the Siskiyou Mountain Ranger District, the Gold Beach Ranger District and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area. Significant rain accompanied the lightning, which gives firefighters a little extra time to locate and attack any new fires. However, the rain doesn’t eliminate the threat of new fires. Sometimes a week or more may go by between the ignition and detection of holdover lightning fires, officials said. Aerial reconnaissance flights were expected to be flown multiple times Wednesday. The flights will look for and report fires on both Forest Service and non-Forest Service land, officials said. In addition, ODF’s Southwest Oregon Detection Center in Central Point is fully staffed and workers are searching for signs of fire and smoke via a system of mountain-top cameras. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest continues to help with the Clover Fire on the Fremont-Winema National Forest and the Alex Fire on the Klamath National Forest. Fire danger is rated as extreme on Forest Service and ODF-protected land in Southern Oregon. “Despite the rain received in some areas, fuels will dry out quickly with the heat and wind. Continue to be vigilant in your fire safety efforts. Preventing fires is everyone’s job,” the Forest Service said in a press release.