August 2, 2023 4:10 a.m.

Firefighters made good progress Tuesday on the Flat Fire, burning in Curry County.

An update from Northwest Incident Management Team 3 said burnout operations were conducted to secure fire line by implementing a plan that accounted for increasingly dry vegetation, hot weather and favorable wind conditions. Where fuels were burned out from the dozer line east of Game Lake, an additional twenty feet of depth was created by burning fuels further into the fire area using aerial ignitions from both Unstaffed Aircraft Systems and helicopters.

Containment lines were tested by localized winds near Forest System Road 401 resulting in four small spotfires which were quickly located by UAS utilizing infrared detection cameras which can see through smoke and were extinguished by firefighters. Burnout operations advanced on the southwest corner of the fire, establishing another two hundred feet of line depth. An update said this progress continues to increase the probability that fire line will hold when tested by expected seasonal heating, vegetation drying and wind flow over the existing fire area later this season. The active burning generated an increase in smoke production which will likely occur again on Wednesday.

The Flat Fire is listed at 27,573 acres and remains fourteen percent contained. 1,547 personnel are assigned to the fire. Updates are available at: https://www.facebook.com/flatfireoregon2023