Bridge 99 July 2014

14 July 2014 12:30 PM Bucket drops from the Metolius River.

14 July 2014 8:50 PM Single tree torching at the top of Green Ridge.

14 July 2014 11:15 PM Backburn at the top of Green Ridge.

The Bridge 99 Fire was started by lightning on the evening of 13 July 2014 about mid-slope on the side of Green Ridge located in the Metolius River Basin near Camp Sherman, OR.  Through the night the fire remained small, about one-quarter to half an acre, due to good humidity recovery.  The photo from around noon on 14 July shows a k-max helicopter making bucket drops onto the fire which at this point was still less than an acre but burning in heavy fuels on a steep slope.  Wind is also a problem in this location as Green Ridge itself runs west to east (bottom to top) and the Metolius Basin runs north-south at the base of the ridge.  Diurnal flow as well as the typical direction of atmospheric flow through Central Oregon from the south-southwest funnels wind through the Basin and up the Ridge.  Even after putting an entire fuel cycle of bucket drops on the fire it moved up the ridge fairly quickly once the 'magic hour' was reached and the burn period started in earnest for the day.  By 9 PM that night it was burning over the top of Green Ridge as can be seen in the second picture with passive crown fire and some single and small group torching.  Before the end of our shift for the day a backburn was initiated in the area where the head of the fire was coming over the top of the ridge.  The last picture shows the fuel load in the area with large (1000 hr) fuels on the surface, a shrub component of 4-6 ft ceanothus and manzanita and trees with low and dead branches surrounded by smaller trees that acted as ladder fuels.  The thing that was really odd at this point was that most of the spot fires that were found were burning on the ends of down logs or stumps, not in the fine surface fuels or shrubs.