September 9, 2019 4:00 a.m.
26 fires have been located on lands protected by the Douglas Forest Protective Association, after last week’s lightning event.
Kyle Reed from DFPA said crews located 1 new lightning related fire on Saturday evening. The East Stouts Fire was 6 miles southwest of Tiller, burning inside the 2015 Stouts Creek Fire scar. It burned 1/100th of an acre and is lined and mopped up.
Reed said firefighters completed control lines around the 10-acre Big Tom Folley Fire Saturday evening, and shifted their efforts to mopping up hot spots within the fire’s perimeter. While Sunday’s rainfall helped smoldering material within the fire area, Reed said the fire is going to take a significant amount of work to fully mop up, due to the amount of dead and downed storm damage material that is in the area. With fire lines completed around the Big Tom Folley Fire, all known lightning related fires on DFPA protected lands are fully lined and either in mop up or patrol status.
Reed said despite rainfall being in the forecast for the next couple of days, the potential for additional lightning related fires remains throughout the area. Reed said that is because it is common for lightning fires to smolder for days or even weeks before popping back to life on a warm windy day. DFPA crews will continue to monitor the lightning affected areas for any signs of additional wildfires.