Oregon: Founders Day Fire at Crater Lake National Park is not being suppressed

Founders Day Fire
Founders Day Fire at Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is in the foreground. Undated NPS photo by Greg Funderburk.

The National Park Service is not suppressing a 98-acre fire at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Instead, they are “managing it to achieve natural resource benefit objectives”. It is five miles north of the famous crater, a geologic feature formed by a volcano. The fire started August 25 and for a while it could not be detected by the MODIS satellite, but recently the activity has increased making possible the data in the image below. Today September 16, the fire is one mile outside of a Red Flag Warning area to the east.

3-D Map of the Founders Day Fire
3-D Map of the Founders Day Fire, looking south to Crater Lake. The dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:02 p.m. September 16, 2014. They are accurate to within a mile.

The lightning-caused fire was discovered on the 98th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. Hence, the name.

The Meadow Fire in Yosemite National Park was “managed” for several weeks, burning only 19 acres, until it took off. As of today it has spread to 4,772 acres and is being suppressed at a cost to date of $4.9 million. The incident management team is calling it 80 percent contained.

Crater Lake
Crater Lake, looking northeast on July 30, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

3 thoughts on “Oregon: Founders Day Fire at Crater Lake National Park is not being suppressed”

  1. Meadow Fire, just over 1000 bucks an acre for treatment……….Does Founders Day fire have an estimate for costs so far?

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