Single Publication

Cedar Creek Fire

October 11, 2022 | Size: 122,463 acres | Contained: 38% | Start Date: August 1,2022 | Origin: 15 miles east of Oakridge, OR 
Cause: Lightning | Total personnel: 653| Resources: 22 engines; 12 crews; 5 heavy equipment; 7 helicopters

Weather: High pressure is building back up over the area, which will result in a warming and drying trend for the rest of this week. Today will have the lowest temperatures over the remainder of this week, forecasted in the mid-to-upper 60s for most of the fire area. 

Operations: Firefighters made significant progress building containment lines around the “slopover” fire on the southern fire perimeter near Lucas Lake yesterday. Fire crews constructed fireline around 100% of the eastern pocket of active fire and are installing hose lays to deliver water along the containment lines. The western pocket of active fire has fire line around approximately 40% of the area perimeter. Heavy smoke yesterday made aviation access challenging; heavy helicopters flew water bucket missions to this area as conditions allowed, although fixed-wing tankers were unable to fly through the dense smoke to drop retardant. Today, firefighters will be working on completing primary containment lines around these pockets of active fire as well as scouting and preparing alternate containment lines along nearby roads and trails. 

Suppression repairs continue on the northern edge of the fire and yesterday firefighters used a break in the smoke to look for heat signatures with a drone, finding few areas of active heat still remaining.  In the eastern portion of the fire, preparation work continued along the 4290 Road and firefighters chipped fuels remaining from earlier fireline construction. 

Fire crews continue to patrol for areas of heat remaining near control lines elsewhere around the fire. Firefighters are working today on backhaul of equipment and hoses from areas where it is no longer needed for fire suppression, collecting and removing this excess equipment from control lines, roads, and staging areas. Fire crews are working on a variety of suppression repair around much of the fire today, grading roads, cleaning ditches and culverts, chipping fuels left from suppression efforts, and removing hazard trees along interior road systems. 

Fire suppression repairs on the Big Swamp and Potter Fires are ongoing to clean out culverts and roadside ditches and restore roads to their pre-fire condition.

Closures: There are closures in effect on the Deschutes National Forest and Willamette National Forest. These closures will remain in place until areas impacted by the fire are surveyed for safety risks and fire crews are able to mitigate these hazards. Please respect Forest closures for firefighter and public safety. Please visit Willamette National Forest and Deschutes National Forest for the most recent closure orders and maps. Pacific Crest Trail hikers should visit pcta.org for current information. There is a Temporary Flight Restriction over the Cedar Creek Fire area. Wildfires are a No Drone Zone - if you fly, we can’t. 

Smoke: The fire will continue to produce smoky conditions for the communities of Oakridge, Crescent Lake, and La Pine. Continued Unhealthy to Hazardous conditions persist in Oakridge with possible improved air quality this evening. Unhealthy conditions are predicted to continue at Crescent Lake as well as increased smoke conditions for the communities of La Pine and Bend. For current conditions, see Fire.airnow.gov, oakridgeair.org, and LRAPA - Today's Current Air Quality. Smoke Forecast Outlooks are available at https://outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook.

Evacuations: A map of the evacuation area is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/CedarCreek. Sign-up for emergency mobile alerts by going to oralert.gov. Please check with Lane County Sheriff’s Office at 541-682-4150 and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office at 541-693-6911 for updates and changes.

Online: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8307/ | www.facebook.com/CedarCreekFire2022/ www.tinyurl.com/cedarcreekfireyoutube | Fire Information Line: 541-201-2335, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM | For Media Inquiries: 541-327-9925 | Email: 2022.cedarcreek@firenet.gov