Long Creek School is serving as a fire camp for the Steet Mountain Complex comprising six fires in the Monument area.

Oregon Department of Forestry’s Incident Management Team 2 assumed command of the complex and the 1,300-acre Laurel Fire 6 miles south of Spray, according to a press release.

The Steet Mountain Complex includes the following fires Steet Mountain (860 acres), Cochran (86 acres), Two Cabins (99 acres), Conger (15 acres), Troff Canyon (0.25 acres) and Jones Canyon (0.25 acres).

Firefighter and public safety is the priority during this incident, including COVID mitigation. Personnel will be following Center for Disease Control guidelines to limit personal interactions both within camp and with the local community. The incident command post and fire camp are closed to the public.

The Hog Ridge Fire 12 miles northwest of Dayville remained at 350 acres and 10% contained Thursday. Throughout the day mostly interior pockets of unburned fuel burned out, which allowed firefighters the opportunity to gain more control over the fire.

The North Fork John Day Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest had no new fires reported Friday morning, but crews continue to patrol and mop up hot spots on existing fires.

Indian Creek Fire

Fire personnel are now actively working to suppress the Indian Creek Fire near Juntura from three directions, while establishing contingency lines around private property outside Westfall.

The fire was estimated at 26,930 acres last night, with 20% containment.

“The fire is actively pushing to the north/northeast,” Fire Operations trainee Mike Moore said. “Yesterday we put a dozer line around the Becker Ranch and started building line along Lawrence Road using a combination of air and ground resources.”

An additional support camp has been established north of Harper to support crews and resources working along the northeast edge of the fire. Other crews are positioned along the south edge and western flank of the fire, which is still burning actively.

“We’re finishing up indirect lines and looking to go direct attack where it’s possible,” Moore said.

Indirect lines are built some distance away from a fire’s boundary and leading edge. With those lines in place, firefighters can now safely move in to work next to, or very close to, the main fire edge, with the objective of minimizing the overall footprint of the fire.

As of Thursday morning, a total of 30 different aircraft had made numerous water and retardant drops on the fire. Additional resources continue to arrive daily. Seven additional hand crews and 18 engines were en route Thursday.

Fire regulations

The Malheur National Forest is under Phase C public use restrictions, which prohibit campfires, smoking, operating a chainsaw, operating a combustion engine with a spark arresting device and driving off of roads.