The Snake fire of the Battle Mountain Complex burns July 20, 2024, near Ukiah.

UKIAH — The Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team 3 on Sunday, July 21, added the 18,886-acre Monkey Creek fire to the Battle Mountain Complex.

The complex had consisted of the 3,887-acre North Fork Owens fire and the 7,499-acre Snake fire. Adding the Monkey Creek fire increases the complex’s total acreage to 30,272

“Each fire is in a different stage of operations,” operations Section Chief Eric Perkins said in a press release. “We have a lot of crews beginning mop-up along large portions of the North Fork Owens fire, and we’re constructing a lot of active fire line on the Snake fire. We’re doing our best in very steep terrain and critical weather. Firefighter and community safety is our top priority.”

While firefighters are engaged on the Monkey Creek fire, much of July 21 will be focused on scouting and determining resource needs.

Crews overnight focused most of their efforts on the Snake fire, protecting homes along the North Fork John Day River. They had little growth on the northwest side of the fire and focused dozer lines on the head of the fire along the south.

Firefighters during the night were able to hold the North Fork Owens fire within its perimeter. Crews patrolled the lines and hand crews began cold trailing portions of the fire. Firefighters will continue mop-up operations. Residents can expect to see smoke from the interior.

Crews on July 21 will continue to focus on constructing and improving as much dozer and handline where they can on all three fires. Firefighters continue to face challenges of limited resources, difficult terrain and red flag warnings with a chance of lightning in the evening.

Road closures: A closure remains in effect for Highway 395 between mileposts 50 through 90, beginning 35 miles south of Pilot Rock.

Evacuations: For updated evacuation information, visit the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page or sign up for the Umatilla County Emergency Alert System.

Evacuation maps also are available at oregon-oem-geo.hub.arcgis.com.

ODF’s Northeast Oregon District in “extreme” (red) fire danger and there are additional restrictions for industrial forest operations on lands under the department’s protection. Fire restrictions can be found at www.bmidc.org or by calling the Northeast Oregon Fire Prevention line at541-975-3027.

For fire information, go to bluemountainfireinfo.blogspot.com, or visit the Facebook page of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Northeast Oregon District.

To report a fire, call the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch at 541-963-7171 or dial 911.

Total estimated size: 30,272 acres

Monkey Cree fire: 18,886

North Fork Owens fire: 3,642 acres

Snake fire: 2,766 acres

Containment: 0%

Cause: under investigation

Estimated cost: $750,000

All Resources

Hand Crews: 9

Engines: 15

Water tenders: 5

Dozers: 6

Helicopters: 7

Total personnel: 355