CANYONVILLE, Ore.— Two Oregon Air National Guard Black Hawk helicopters are joining eight other helicopters today in dropping water on fires in the Skyline Ridge Complex in southern Douglas County. Such drops are key given the steep terrain and heavy timber and brush facing firefighters.

Personnel on the Complex has increased to 518, with the number of hand crews almost doubling since yesterday, nine more fire engines and a tripling of heavy equipment, including dozers. Containment remains at 0 percent.

Ground crews will benefit from cooler temperatures today. Heavy fuels, though, continue to burn, sending burning debris rolling downhill and across control lines. Firefighters will be on alert to put out any new spot fires caused by such rollouts.

Infrared mapping has shown the combined acreage of the 15 fires in the Skyline Ridge Complex to be 1,516. The largest fires are:

Poole Creek – 1,104 acres; O’Shea Creek – 182 acres; Ike Butte – 124 acres (now completely encircled by control lines); Sweat Creek - 56 acres; Turkey Creek – 15 acres; McGinnis – 11 acres.

The remaining fires are less than an acre or two. Many have fire lines around them.

Incident Commander Joe Hessel told firefighters that today was a day of opportunity for making gains on the fires. “Cooler temperatures will allow us to extend control lines on our bigger fires and keep smaller ones buttoned up within their fire lines,” said Hessel.