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Evacuation levels increased to Level 2 for communities near Upper Applegate Fire

Retardant being dropped on the Upper Applegate Fire
ODF Southwest Oregon District
Retardant being dropped on the Upper Applegate Fire

Several areas in the Applegate Valley south of the community of Ruch were upgraded to Level 2 "BE SET" to evacuate status on Saturday afternoon.

Crews continued to fight the Upper Applegate Fire on Saturday but the two zones bordering the fire were increased to just below mandatory evacuations.

The zones in Level 2 include:

JAC-434: Eastside Rd south of Little Applegate Rd to north of McKee Bridge, rural Jacksonville.

JAC-436: Little Applegate Rd, west of Upper Applegate Rd, and eastern portions of Sterling Creek Rd., rural Jacksonville.

Evacuation zones in Level 2 "Be Set" to evacuate status are shaded in yellow.
Jackson County Sheriff
Evacuation zones in Level 2 "Be Set" to evacuate status are shaded in yellow. Jacksonville can be seen north of the fire.

According to the Oregon Department of Forestry, the fire is being held at 500 acres, but other . More than 200 personnel are fighting the fire including air tankers, helicopters, tree fallers and two task forces from the Oregon State Fire Marshal.

The fire is burning in extremely steep terrain in an area that has been affected by large scale die-off of drought-stressed Douglas fir trees.

"The terrain on this fire has posed numerous safety issues, from the steep slope to hazardous trees and rocks that have been falling. While tactics remain aggressive to corral this fire fully, the safety of those working the incident is also a top priority," reads a description from the

.

Erik Neumann is JPR's news director. He earned a master's degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and joined JPR as a reporter in 2019 after working at NPR member station KUER in Salt Lake City.