Gasquet volunteer firefighters helped fight the Slater Fire along U.S. 199 the past two weeks. Photo courtesy of Gasquet Fire Protection District

Motorists have reported seeing flames and individual trees torching to the east of U.S. 199 as fire crews continue to work the Slater Fire.

Crews are building indirect dozer lines in the Knopki Creek area down to Sanger Lake, Mike Granger, operations chief for Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 2, said during an update Wednesday.

On the west side of U.S. 199, crews are building alternate control lines along the road north of Patrick Creek Lodge in case the fire begins to spread south, Granger said.

“This is still an area of concern,” he said. “We don’t have a good handle on it yet. We have control lines around it, indirect control lines, but there is the potential if the fire gets up and moves on us here in the tunnel area, it could come out in the control lines and we don’t have the capability to punch that in as quickly as we like.”

The Slater Fire is an estimated 150,230 acres and 24 percent contained as of Wednesday, according to an update. The Devil Fire is 7,784 acres and is 18 percent contained.

The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team took command of the Slater and Devil fires on Tuesday, taking the southern section over from California Incident Management Team 10, Granger said.

As of Wednesday, the Slater and Devil fires have a perimeter of about 250 miles, Granger said. There are 21 hand crews working in those areas, each covering an area of 12 miles along the perimeter, he said.

“That gives you an indication of the magnitude of the fire and the monumental task it’s taken to get some control lines in on this fire,” Granger said.

South of O’Brien, Granger said he was confident crews would be able to keep control of fire activity, but the weather will present a challenge with humidity levels at 25 percent or lower and ridge top winds up to 40 mph. Fire crews, dozers and engines will be in the area to react quickly if fire activity flares up, he said.

The Slater Fire is still active east and west of Takilma, including the remote Del Norte County community of Sun Star, Granger said.

“We have fire all around there … and just to the east of Cowboy Mine,” he said. “We’re looking at firing this unit off, but not today. We’ll hold what we have today… We’re not calling this area fully contained yet.”

Crews have built control lines in the Holland Loop area north of Takilma and using masticators to keep fire outside the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve.

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