Malheur National Forest bars all access due to wildfires
Published 6:30 pm Monday, July 22, 2024
- Smoke obscures the view where the Falls Fire crossed Forest Service Road 31 on July 16, 2024.
JOHN DAY — Due to active wildfires compounded by extremely unfavorable weather conditions, limited firefighting resources and county resources, the Malheur National Forest is temporarily closing lands within the forest, forest officials announced on Monday, July 22.
The closure means that the public is prohibited from entering lands, roads, trails and recreation areas and facilities on the Malheur National Forest.
The objective of the closure is to protect public and firefighter safety as the incident management team continues to battle the Falls Fire and local resources continue to respond to new smoke reports, forest officials said.
The Falls Fire was 132,751 acres as of Monday morning with 16% containment.
Fire resources continue to respond to multiple new starts resulting form thunderstorms that moved through the area Sunday. Three new incidents that are a concern are the Telephone Fire on the Emigrant Creek Ranger District near King Mountain, the Whiskey Fire on the Blue Mountain Ranger District off Forest Road 3660 and the Flagtail Fire near Flagtail Lookout on the Blue Mountain Ranger District.
Compounded by multiple large wildfires burning across the region, and multiple fires involving evacuations, firefighting resources and county resources are stretched thin.
A detailed map and description of the closure area is available on the Malheur National Forest website and at any forest office. Closure signs will be posted on the ground.
The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group set the National Preparedness Level to 5 (PL 5) on July 18 due to significant fire activity occurring in multiple geographic areas, an increase in incident management team mobilization, and heavy shared resource commitment to large fires nationally. PL 5 is the highest level of wildland fire activity. Several geographic areas are experiencing large, complex wildland incidents, which have the potential to exhaust national wildland firefighting resources.
For additional information visit www.fs.usda.gov/malheur or call the office at 541-575-3000.
