7-26-14 8:15 AM Carlton Complex East Zone Update

This Update Covers the Carlton Complex’s EAST ZONE

Fire crews made significant progress in the East Zone of the Carlton Complex on Friday and plan to concentrate resources this weekend on the Sullivan Creek drainage, where the fire has the greatest potential to grow in drier, hotter weather.

Yesterday’s Accomplishments: Firefighters have established solid line from the mouth of the Okanogan River to North Cook Mountain Road. Aerial resources — including a helitanker and fixed-wing aircraft known as a “scooper” — dropped foam retardant and water along the fire line from North Cook Mountain Road to Sullivan Creek to cool hot spots as hand crews installed hose line, mopped up and improved the line in the steep, rugged terrain south of Woody Mountain.

Today’s Activities: The goal today is to hold and fortify lines cut by hand crews and dozers over the past several days. Resources will focus on Sullivan Creek and other drainages along the north flank of the fire, where the fire is most likely to test lines.

Emergency Relief Information Needed: The Okanogan County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Okanogan High School is asking residents with fire damage claims to call the center and let emergency officials know whether or not they are insured. The EOC can be reached at 509-422-2422, 509-422-2428 or 509-422-2420.

Damage Estimates: Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers announced Friday that the fire has destroyed 300 homes. Firefighters escorted four teams from the Okanogan County Assessor’s Office on physical inspections of burned areas and used property tax records to confirm the numbers of damaged properties.

Utility Work: Okanogan County Public Utility District workers are replacing power poles and restoring telephone and internet communications where fire severely damaged the utility infrastructure.

Evacuation levels: Fire managers and the sheriff have determined that several residential areas along Highway 20 should remain at Evacuation Level 2 until risk changes. Evacuation levels for specific roads are posted on the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Facebook page and the Carlton Complex blogspot.

Carlton Complex Overview: Three incident management teams and a National Incident Management Organization are managing the fire in three zones, with incident camps at Omak, Winthrop and Chelan. About 900 firefighters are assigned to the East Zone of the fire. The fire is 250,514 acres with 59 percent containment. The 2,932 people assigned include 82 crews, 186 engines, 22 dozers, 48 water tenders and 17 helicopters.

Road conditions: For updated road conditions, contact the Washington Department of Transportation (www.wsdot.com or call 511).