Up in Smoke; Golden Fire AM update for July 23
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Firefighters work through the night on the 2,000-acre Golden Fire north of Bonanza, Ore. July 22, 2023 (Image: Brian Gailey).
FIRE DETAILS
CAUSE:
Under investigation
SIZE (acres):
2000
CONTAINMENT: 0%
LOCATION:
11 Miles north of Bonanza, Ore.
INCIDENT COMMAND:
Unified Command
PERSONNEL: n/a
FUELS:
Dry timber and brush
Last Updated:
11:22 AM, 7/23/23
Satellite hotspot detection and boundary of the Golden Fire as of 10:00 AM, July 23, 2023. (NASA)
BONANZA, Ore. – The 2,000-acre Golden Fire continues to burn on Oregon Department of Forestry protected land, Bureau of Land Management Lakeview District, and threatens Fremont-Winema National Forest lands approximately 11 miles north of Bonanza.
Reported Saturday afternoon shortly after 1:00 PM, the 2,000 acres fire has no containment.
The cause of the Golden Fire is still under investigation.
Overnight, firefighters worked on structure protection and constructing dozer lines, handlines, and contingency lines. Today, the focus will be on continued structure protection and work toward containment.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal has sent two task forces through immediate response Saturday afternoon to add capacity protecting structures. Additionally, a conflagration was declared by Governor Kotek allowing OSFM to send additional task forces and an incident management team Saturday evening.
The Golden Fire is under unified command with local fire managers as well as the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Blue Team. An ODF Incident Management Team is expected to take command of the Golden Fire today at 6:00 PM.
Multiple structures remain threatened.
Evacuations
Residents in the area should monitor their current evacuation status as this incident progresses. Highway 140E and Bly Mountain Cutoff are open with limited visibility. For firefighter and public safety use caution if traveling in the area. There will be increased fire traffic around the Bonanza area.
The following is updated evacuation information, at the request of the Golden Fire Incident Commander, issued by Klamath County Emergency Management:
Level 3 (GO NOW)
East of Highway 140E, north of Keno Springs Lane, and south of Polar Bear Lane.
For the latest evacuation information call the Klamath County hotline at 541-205-9730. Sign up for Klamath County alerts, visit http://alerts.klamathcounty.org
American Red Cross along with the Klamath County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) has set up a shelter for evacuees at Bonanza High School. 31601 Mission Street, Bonanza Oregon 97623.
A large column of smoke from the Golden Fire could be seen from much of the Klamath Basin. July 22, 2023 (Image: Brian Gailey)
Investigation
The Klamath County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with investigators from the Oregon Department of Forestry are currently working to determine the origin and cause of the fire.
According to a news release by the KCSO issued this morning, “initial information is that the fire began on private property being used to grow marijuana illegally.”
Weather
There is a red flag warning issued for Klamath County for today through Monday for strong gusty winds and low relative humidity. The public is urged to use extreme caution with anything that can spark a wildfire. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Additional photos from Saturday
Editors Note
Yesterday, I received several phone calls complaining I had not been publishing updates fast enough on the website. I understand your concerns, especially if you, your loved ones, or your property were lost or threatened. Please know, when I am on a fire, updates can be difficult, and connectivity can be nonexistent.
I spent over 8 hours on the Golden Fire Saturday speaking with officials from Fire & Law Enforcement, and capturing a wide variety of footage for KFN. While out yesterday all first responders and media experienced difficulty with a limited cellular connection. It was so bad, the KCSO brought in their own mobile cell tower/satellite booster.
Even with the best connections, updating the klamathfallsnews.org via phone is difficult. This makes providing updates on the site impossible with a poor connection. However, if I cannot update the site, I often can post updates to our social media. Which I was able to do yesterday.
To get the full content we publish I recommend following our website, subscribing to the Morning Update; and please like/subscribe to our social media pages for both Klamath Falls News and Cascade Firewatch and our other brands for the latest updates.
Thank you.
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