Vinegar Fire Daily Update

The Vinegar fire is located approximately 6.5 miles southwest of Granite, Oregon. It is burning in the Greenhorn Unit of the North Fork John Day Wilderness Area. There are 561 people assigned to work on the fire. Crews that have been working on a containment line along the Ben Harrison Trail on the north side of the fire are staying at Ben Camp. The remaining personnel are staying in the Incident Base Camp located at Crane Flat, approximately 8 miles north of Granite on Road 73 (52). On Friday, ORIIMT4 will be released from the fire and ORIIMT2 will take command under the leadership of Incident Commander Brett Fillis. The next few days will be a transition period between the two teams to assure a smooth handoff. Yesterday, crews and air resources were aggressively suppressing spot fires on the southeast and east sides of the fire. A protective fuel break has been established on the southeast side to reduce the potential fire behavior should the fire cross containment lines near the community of Greenhorn. Upon recommendation from OR IIMT4, the Sheriff has downgraded the evacuation notice for the Alamo area from Level 2 to Level 1. Levels 1, 2 and 3 are typically described by Ready (1), Set (2) and Go (3). The Greenhorn area remains under a Level 1 notification. The weather pattern is expected to change beginning Wednesday, with a slight chance of thunderstorms and a fire weather watch beginning at 11am on Thursday. A fire weather watch (FWW) is issued by the National Weather Service and means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. The FWW is expected to be upgraded to a red flag warning. Red Flag criteria occur whenever a geographical area has been in a dry spell for a week or two, the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) is high to extreme, and the following forecast weather parameters are expected: 1) a sustained wind speed average of 15 mph or greater, 2) relative humidity less than or equal to 25 percent, and 3) a temperature of greater than 75 degrees F.

Basic Information
Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Wednesday August 14th, 2013 approx. 11:00 AM
Location	27 miles NE of John Day, OR
Incident Commander	Brian J. Watts
Current Situation
Total Personnel	561
Size	964 acres
Estimated Containment Date	Friday August 30th, 2013 approx. 12:00 AM
Fuels Involved	Timber (litter and understory)Subalpine fir with dead and down.
Fire Behavior	Active fire behavior with single tree/group tree torching.
Significant Events	Reduced evacuation level for Alamo to a Level 1. Area and road closures in effect August 19th. Construction of secondary and primary containment lines in Branch II.
Outlook
Planned Actions	Point protection, finish construction of containment lines on east side of fire. Continue contingency line preparation.
Growth Potential	High
Terrain Difficulty	High
Current Weather
Wind Conditions	18 mph NW
Temperature	85 degrees
Humidity	13%