Monument Fire near Unity crosses boundary onto Wallowa-Whitman
Published 5:00 pm Thursday, August 1, 2002
- The Eagle/DAVID CARKHUFF A Sikorskey S61 helicopter lifts off with bucket in tow after refueling at the Monument Fire helibase near Unity. (This aircraft was misidentified as a Chinook in last week's Blue Mountain Eagle). The Monument Fire is the area's largest at nearly 25,000 acres. A team of firefighters conducted successful field training for the U.S. Army troops on the firelines. Some of the troops from
UNITY – The Monument Fire, ignited by a lightning strike at 2:30 p.m. on July 12, was estimated to be 70 percent contained on July 29, with an estimated cost of $5.4 million.
The fire burned in the Monument Rock Wilderness, administered by the Malheur National Forest, approximately 9 miles southwest of Unity. The fire recently spread outside of the wilderness and onto the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. On Sunday, firefighters made progress mopping up burned fuels within 300 to 500 feet along all perimeters of the fire. The eastern, southern, and southwestern flanks are currently being patrolled. Firefighters will continue to mop up farther into the interior on the western and northwestern flanks of the fire, and burn piles located near western fireline perimeter.
Local resource specialists are working closely with firefighters to continue rehabilitation of the lines. The efforts include the creation of channel diversions to prevent erosion of soils. Extremely heavy fuel loadings, long hikes, and difficult terrain will make for slow difficult progress, the Forest Service reported.
The military battalion from Fort Riley has been working the fire line, which has allowed some resources to be demobilized for reassignment. Demobilization of heavy equipment, engines and crews will be ongoing.
Heavy continuous fuels exist within the fireline perimeter. As a result of continued hot and dry conditions, these unburned pockets of fuel will continue to burn and torch within the interior of the fire perimeter, with smoke plumes visible for quite some time, the Forest Service reported.
There are 1,283 people assigned to this fire, using 31 crews, nine helicopters, 21 engines, 13 bulldozers, 13 water tenders and three camp crews.
A temporary flight restriction remains in place over and surrounding the Monument Rock Wilderness. The TFR encompasses both the Monument Rock and Strawberry Mountain Wildernesses of the Malheur National Forest. Many public-use restrictions and road closures are in effect on the Malheur and Wallowa-Whitman national forests. For current information on the Malheur, contact the Prairie City Ranger District at 820-3311; and for the Wallowa-Whitman call the Unity Ranger District at 446-3351 or the Wallowa-Whitman supervisor’s office at 523-6391.
