Awatchfire

Clackamas County, Oregon

Austin Fire

Burning 19.9 miles south of Rhododendron and 20.8 miles south of Mount Hood Villages, since Sunday 9 August.

Map of Oregon. The Austin Fire burns 49 miles from Portland and 53 miles from Salem, and 53 miles from the state capital, Salem.
The fire sits 49 miles from Portland and 53 miles from Salem.

9,237

acres burned so far — about 14 square miles

19

days burning so far

0%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 1:52pm today

The Austin Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. The last heat was seen 10 hours ago. There is no clear movement in the last six hours: the middle of the heat has shifted less than the width of the ground a single reading covers.

No fresh look at this fire for 10 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the Austin Fire. Amber flames mark every place that gave off heat in the last day; the shading is the shape of the ground.
Heat in the last day Higher ground pale, valleys dark

10hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 4:20am on Friday, local time.

95% less

energy in the last 6 hours of the record than in the 6 before them — the fire was cooler when it was last seen.

18.2miles

is how close the heat has come to Rhododendron at any point in the record. In the last day the nearest heat has been 19.3 miles from it, and the closest this fire has come to Mount Hood Villages is 18.1 miles, 19.4 in the last day.

3.6miles

is the furthest any heat has been seen from the point on the official record — the width of the ground involved so far.

Smoke has been recorded lying over this ground 50 times so far. The thickest of it was thick between 5:00am and 8:00am local time.

Two places are burning

2.8 miles east of the recorded point

35 readings of heat in the last day — 98% of everything the fire gave off in that time.

3.2 miles south-west of the recorded point

5 readings of heat in the last day — 2% of everything the fire gave off in that time.

Conditions measured 1.2 miles from the fire: 48°F, air at 100% humidity, a 0 mph wind out of the south-east.

How it got here

Eight days of record on a day-20 fire

The record here begins at 9:02pm on 21 Aug and runs to 4:21am on 28 Aug — 151 hours, 757 readings of heat. The fire is on day 20, so the first 12 days are missing: nothing showed up from above until the fire was large enough and the sky over it clear enough for it to be seen.

Animated map of the Austin Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 53 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 8 days of record

  1. Map for Fri 21 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri21 Aug

    First readings

    • 3 heat readings
    • Heat from 9:02pm to 9:02pm
    • Spread 2.7 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the night
  2. Map for Sat 22 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sat22 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 92 heat readings
    • Energy 16.8 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:15am to 9:40pm
    • Spread 3.4 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, afternoon and night
  3. Map for Sun 23 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sun23 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 77 heat readings
    • Energy 71% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:34am to 3:03pm
    • Spread 3.4 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  4. Map for Mon 24 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon24 Aug

    The fiercest day

    • 155 heat readings
    • Energy 10.6 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:15am to 9:19pm
    • Spread 3.5 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  5. Map for Tue 25 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue25 Aug

    Holding

    • 257 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 41% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:15am to 9:59pm
    • Spread 3.6 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon, evening and night
  6. Map for Wed 26 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed26 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 121 heat readings
    • Energy 84% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:56am to 3:03pm
    • Spread 3.6 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  7. Map for Thu 27 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu27 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 30 heat readings
    • Energy 4.0 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:24am to 9:38pm
    • Spread 3.4 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, afternoon and night
  8. Map for Fri 28 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri28 Auglatest

    Cooling off

    • 22 heat readings
    • Energy 96% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:05am to 4:21am
    • Spread 3.6 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn

None of the perimeter is being reported as held. 513 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 9,237 now. Nothing has looked at it for 10 hours, and the record still lists it as active.