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Applegate residents given 'get set' notice for fire evacuation The expanding Burnt Peak fire, part of the Miller Complex, has led fire officials to warn some Applegate-area residents to be ready to evacuate. This photo was taken Aug. 21. [Photo from inciweb.nwgc.gov] Thursday Aug 31, 2017 at 10:14 AM Aug 31, 2017 at 12:17 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman APPLEGATE — Firefighters warned about 100 Applegate Valley landowners to prepare to evacuate as flames from the 2,591-acre Burnt Peak fire pushed their way toward Applegate Road. The "Level 2" notice to "get set" to evacuate this portion of the Miller Complex set of fires was issued late Wednesday evening after flames crested Billy Mountain in view of valley landowners, according to the U.S. Forest Service. "They could see the fire cresting the hill and that was our trigger point for the upgrade to Level 2," fire spokeswoman Sierra Hellstrom said this morning. The notices were given door-to-door Wednesday evening by firefighters and Jackson County sheriff's deputies in the area of Palmer Creek, Kinney Creek and both sides of Upper Applegate Road from the Applegate Dam spillway down to the intersection of Palmer Creek Road, Hellstrom said. The intersection is about nine miles southwest of Ruch and three miles northwest of Applegate Lake. The notice informed residents either to relocate voluntarily outside of the affected area or be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice should they choose to remain. Residents were advised to pack vehicles with belongings in preparation for a quick departure should the notice be upgraded to a Level 3 mandatory evacuation, Hellstrom said. Hellstrom said it was unclear exactly how many property owners were notified, but crews prepared 100 information packets to be delivered. A similar get-set notice was issued Tuesday in the Joe Bar area of Northern California, just over the Oregon border south of Applegate Lake. The Burnt Peak fire is one of a cluster of fires ignited by lightning Aug. 14 in the Applegate Valley and surrounding mountains, collectively called the Miller Complex fires. Infrared flights late Wednesday pegged the complex burning in 14,239 acres. They collectively remain listed this morning at 40 percent contained, with 558 fire crew members assigned to it, Hellstrom said. The other fires are the Grayback fire about 7 miles south of Williams near the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve and the Abney fire in California along the border of the Klamath and Rogue River-Siskiyou national forests. Large swaths of Forest Service lands there are closed to the public but open to residents. Firefighters in the Burnt Peak fire so far have relied primarily on existing roads boosted by water lines and removal of roadside vegetation to halt the encroaching flames, according to the Forest Service. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.