Courtesy: USFS

Hendrix Fire still burning strong

SOUTHERN OREGON — South of Ashland, the Hendrix Fire is burning strong at 220 acres.

“It’s not a safe place to put people,” said Richy Harrod, Incident Commander for Northwest Incident Management Team.

Harrod has only been here for 6 hours and isn’t even based in Oregon. He’s part of a regional team hired by the U.S. Forest Service to come in and put three fires out. Their main focus, however, is the Hendrix Fire burning South of Ashland.

“We’re here to help them with fires that have gotten beyond their capability,” he said.

Local firefighters are exhausted and the extra help was needed. The Hendrix Fire, in particular, is proving to be a challenge.

Harrod says it’s in a remote area with rugged terrain.

“It’s extremely steep with very little access,” he said. “There’s a whole lot of dead trees in there, which provide hazards for firefighters.”

Harrod says their strategy presently is to set up a fire line near the bottom of the fire where they can make their way up safely.

“We don’t want to put people in a thick timber stand where they can’t get out if things go bad,” he said.

The watershed is an essential area for the Rogue Valley, particularly Ashland’s water supply. The Hendrix Fire area hasn’t been burned in hundreds of years making it an old growth forest with heavy fuels, which could be dangerous.

“Right now, if a fire were to become very active in this terrain steep with a lot of heavy fuel, it’s not safe to put people there,” he said.

Harrod says the smaller two fires could take around 3 to 4 days to be contained. And while they’re making progress on the Hendrix Fire, it’s going to take much longer.

“We’re just continuing to build line around the corner and figure out where we are going to put the final containment line,” he said.

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