Salt Creek Fire roars to 1,500 acres in Southern Oregon, evacuations issued near Hwy 140

Update at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 8

Fire crews made good progress on the fast-growing Salt Creek Fire overnight, getting fire line around 40% of the blaze burning roughly 10 miles east of Eagle Point. The fire remains at about 1,500 acres just north of Highway 140.

There are no homes currently threatened but a level 1 "be prepared" evacuation warning has been issued for the area around Lakecreek, an unincorporated community about 20 miles east of Medford.

"Fire activity naturally decreased last night when the sun went down and temperatures dropped.," a morning report from the Oregon Department of Forestry said. "With this advantage, resources overnight were able to put in a mix of bulldozer and hand line along the entire northern portion, as well as the southwest border of the fire. The eastern and southeastern portion remain largely unlined and will be the focus of Monday’s day shift."

There are roughly 321 firefighters working the blaze along with 10 water tenders, seven bulldozers, and six tree fallers. Aircraft will be heavily used again today including five helicopters.

The fire was first reported Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m.

"When firefighters arrived on scene, it was estimated to be 2-5 acres and growing quickly in the hot, dry and windy conditions," the morning report said. "Numerous resources were ordered, including engines, bulldozers, water tenders and multiple types of aircraft. The fire grew to an estimated 10 acres within the half hour, and 200 acres an hour and a half into initial attack.

Numerous retardant drops "helped to box in the fire by creating temporary retardant lines around the majority of the incident. This allowed firefighters the upper hand on solidifying containment lines overnight," the morning report said.

In the area of the fire, temperatures are forecast to reach 105 on Monday and stay near 100 the rest of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

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ORIGINAL STORY

The Salt Creek Fire burning in Southern Oregon grew rapidly to 1,500 acres Sunday night and brought level 1 evacuation warnings to an area north of Highway 140 and east of Eagle Point.

The fire, which briefly closed Highway 140, is located just north of Lakecreek, an unincorporated community about 20 miles east of Medford. The fire put up a large smoke column Sunday afternoon as boiling hot and windy conditions pushed the fire into rapid growth.

The level 1 "be ready" evacuation warning includes a large area centered on Salt Creek and Fish Lake roads and near Willow Lake. An evacuation map can be found here .

"There are no structures threatened at this time," the Jackson County Sheriff's Office said. "Deputies are on scene to provide door-to-door notifications to houses in the areas."

Aircraft, multiple fire crews and heavy equipment are all working the blaze. The Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team 1 will take over managing the fire at 10 a.m. Monday.

"This will bring in additional resources and support, allowing the district to remain ready to respond to any additional fire starts," a news release from ODF said.

In the area of the fire, temperatures are forecast to reach 109 on Monday and stay near 100 the rest of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast . To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal . Urness is the author of “ Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon ” and “ Hiking Southern Oregon .” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salt Creek Fire roars to 1,500 acres in Southern Oregon, evacuations issued near Hwy 140