Cedar Creek Fire in Western Oregon triples in size

Cedar Creek Fire 3-D map
Cedar Creek Fire 3-D map looking east at 10:45 p.m. Sept 10, 2022.

The Cedar Creek Fire that started August 1 in west-central Oregon was already very large at 27,512 acres on the morning of Thursday September 8. But as a result of dry, windy weather on the following two days when a mapping aircraft was over the fire at 10 p.m. Saturday it had more than tripled in size to 85,900 acres. That night the blaze was about 5 miles northeast of Oakridge.

Most of the growth was to the west, driven by strong easterly winds and dry fuels. Saturday evening while winds were from the west, firefighters on the western flank completed strategic burning operations near Eagle Butte, 5 miles northeast of Oakridge. The fire remained north of Highway 58, south of Forest Road 19, and east of Eagle Butte.

Cedar Creek Fire map, 10:45 p.m. Sept 10, 2022
Cedar Creek Fire map, 10:45 p.m. Sept 10, 2022.

The incident management team says 2,230 homes and 443 commercial structures remain threatened, but none have been reported as destroyed. The Office of the Oregon State Fire Marshal has committed seven task forces and an incident management team to the incident.

Saturday evening resources committed to the fire included 17 hand crews, 53 engines, and 8 helicopters for a total of 994 personnel. The estimated suppression costs so far are $47 million.

In the satellite photo below the Cedar Fire is producing the smoke seen in the lower portion of the image.

Satellite photo, Bolt Creek and Cedar Creek fires Sept. 10, 2022
Satellite photo, Bolt Creek and Cedar Creek fires Sept. 10, 2022. Processed by Pierre Markuse.

Firefighters are scouting for potential control lines on the Cedar Creek Fire in Western Oregon

11:20 a.m. PDT August 7, 2022

Cedar Creek Fire, mapped at 3:07 a.m. PDT Aug. 7, 2022
Cedar Creek Fire, looking east at 3:07 a.m. PDT Aug. 7, 2022

The Cedar Creek Fire on the Willamette National Forest in Western Oregon was very active when it was mapped by a fixed wing aircraft at about 10 p.m. Saturday, and also during a satellite overflight at 3 a.m. Sunday. Spot fires were observed 800 feet ahead of the main fire.

It has burned 1,822 acres since it started from a lightning strike August 1, one of 20 to 30 fires ignited by lightning that night. Most of it is burning on a plateau with a steep slope on the south side. The blaze is north of Highway 58, 14 air miles east of Oakridge, and 2 miles west of Waldo Lake.

Cedar Creek Fire, mapped at 3:07 a.m. PDT Aug. 7, 2022
Cedar Creek Fire, mapped at 3:07 a.m. PDT Aug. 7, 2022.

A Type 1 incident management team assumed command on August 5. Since then the team has been scouting for opportunities to safely engage the fire.

Currently there are no evacuations in effect.

Update at 11:57 a.m. PDT August 9 2022.
It turns out that there is a major error in the National Interagency Fire Center fire history database. In the map below we created using their data, the polygon shown as the 68,000-acre 1991 Warner Creek Fire is completely in error and does not exist at that scale or at that location. The polygon that was not identified in the NIFC database that we labeled as “Unknown fire name in the 1990s”, is actually the 8,900-acre Warner Creek Fire of 1991. We regret the error. This is not the first time we have seen gross errors in the NIFC fire history database, especially for Oregon, and causes us to question ever using it again.

Fire history near the Cedar Creek Fire

The 1996 Charlton Fire which burned 9,000 acres is 3 miles to the northeast on the north side of Waldo Lake.

Cedar Creek Fire Oregon 11 a.m. August 6, 2022
Cedar Creek Fire looking north at 11 a.m. August 6, 2022. InciWeb photo.

In the video below recorded Sunday morning, Operations Section Chief Kyle Cannon describes the current situation.

Quick summary of wildfires in Washington and Oregon

GOES 17 satellite photo, wildfires, 6:36 p.m. PDT July 18, 2021

There are at least five large significant wildfires currently burning in Washington and Oregon. Here is a quick and dirty summary. The acreages were as of Saturday evening, but all were putting up large smoke plumes Sunday easily seen from a satellite.

Working north to south, starting in Washington:

Cub Creek 2 Fire
4,690 acres, 5 miles north of Winthrop, Washington. Numerous residences are threatened. Evacuations are in effect, including for pack animals, mules from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest who were relocated to their winter pasture.

pack mules on the Oka-Wen
pack mules on the Oka-Wen

The north flank of the Cub Creek 2 remains unchecked. Retardant from very large air tankers, water scooping planes, and helicopters with buckets are providing support to firefighters in all locations of the fire. It is burning north pushed by diurnal winds during the day and smoke pushed down south during the late evening and morning.

Cedar Creek Fire
4,080 acres, 12 air miles northwest of Winthrop, Washington, very close to Highway 20. The western perimeter of the fire has burned onto a ridgeline with sparse fuels, slowing the spread. On the southern portion of the fire, growth has been minimal as it burns in subalpine areas with minimal vegetation. The northeastern portion remains the most active.

Summit Trail Fire
2,031 acres, 17 miles west of Inchelium. It has only been burning for three days. On Saturday crews continued to build direct fire line. There was fire growth on the north-northwest side of the fire, and crews scouted Upper Ridge Creek Road, developing a plan to prep and hold the fire along the road.

Due to limited resources the fire continued to spread Saturday to the  northeast at a moderate rate of spread, but that pace increased Sunday.

And in Oregon:

Jack Fire
16,764 acres, on both sides of Highway 138, 9 miles northwest of Clearwater. South of Highway 138, firefighters continue burnout operations to build primary line on the west and southwest flanks. On the southeast side, crews will continue to use heavy machinery to clear and brush out roads used as control lines.

Bootleg Fire
298,662 acres, 30 miles northeast of Klamath Falls. The Bootleg Fire continued to push further into Lake County for a distance of five miles on the north side and ten on the east side. It remains about four to five miles north of Highway 140. It was extremely active again on Sunday, as can be seen in the satellite photo above.