Umatilla National Forest

News Release

August 10, 2005 10:30 a.m.		541-278-3722 Joani Bosworth Public Affairs Umatilla N.F.

Portions of the Umatilla National Forest Closed to Public Entry
Closures Areas Include the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness Area

August 10, 2005 10:30 a.m.
Pendleton, Oregon: Due to the extreme fire activity and unpredictable nature of the School Fire, Umatilla National Forest Supervisor Kevin Martin has signed a closure order for the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness Area and surrounding roads and areas of the Umatilla National Forest.

“Public and employee safety is our number one priority,” said Martin, “We would rather err on the cautious side than put firefighters, search and rescue personnel and the public in danger.” Although the School Fire is not currently burning in the Wenaha-Tucannon, an active section of the fire is located just to the north of the wilderness. “If the fire were to reach the wilderness area, it would be very difficult to notify and evacuate those recreationists,” said Martin.

The additional area closure (0614-002201) has been implemented on all Umatilla National Forest lands north of Township 7 North, in Ranges 40-44 East (as shown on the forest recreation map.) The closure prohibits all non-authorized people from going onto lands, roads, or trails within the closure area. A map of the closure area is available on the Umatilla National Forest website at: www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma and on the School Fire website at http://199.134.225.53/school_fire/. New road closures include:

Forest Road 64 (Skyline Road) is closed north of its junction with 6436.
Forest Road 6437
Forest Road 6400-650
Forest Road 4304
Forest Road 46
Forest Road 4600-300
Forest Road 4600-301

These closures are in addition to road closures implemented Saturday, August 6, 2005. Those emergency closures include:

Forest Road 47 (Tucannon River Road)
Forest Road 4625 (Maloney Mountain Road)
Mountain Road at Linville Road
Pataha Creek at Columbia Junction
Forest Road 41 east of 4206
Misery Springs
Wooten Game Range Head Quarters
Maloney Mountain Road and Skyline Road
North Patit Road and Hartsock Road
Forest Road 42 at Forest Boundary

The public is asked to honor all current road and area closures. “Because of the large number of resources actively fighting this fire, any non-authorized person in the vicinity of the fire places both the public and our firefighters at risk,” said Martin. “Our firefighters need to be able to focus their efforts on the task at hand, and that’s containing this fire.”

The School Fire, located 16 miles south and west of Pomeroy, Wa., has burned over 41,000 acres and continues to burn actively in steep terrain. The fire was initially reported to the Pendleton Interagency Communications Center late Friday afternoon and is burning on private lands protected by the Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Umatilla National Forest lands. Because of the complexity of the fire, a Type I Incident Management Team is managing the fire suppression efforts.

- USFS -

For a printable copy (pdf file) of this news release, click here.

USDA Forest Service - Umatilla National Forest
Last Modified:  Wednesday, 10-Aug-2005 15:45:39 EDT