Dramatically cooler temperatures, slack winds and higher humidity will allow firefighters on the Canyon Creek Complex fire to reach areas Monday that have previously been too hot or too dangerous.
"It looks like we'll have great weather for the next several days,'' said Jennifer Myslivy, a spokeswoman for the fire's federal firefighting teams. "We'll be able to get into areas that have not been able to get to and we're going take full advantage."
Although it was too windy to fly helicopter bucket drops Sunday, the fire saw low to moderate growth and stood at 104,741 acres Monday morning. Much of the recent growth came from fire pushed across grassland Saturday morning by 50 mph gusts toward Prairie City on the fire's northeast side. The fire was started by lightning strikes August 12 and has nearly 1,000 personnel assigned to it. So far, 44 homes have been destroyed along with another 50 outbuildings. It is 49 percent contained.
John Day residents woke Monday to temperatures in the mid-40s and calm winds. Smoke from the fire blanketed the town but was expected to lift with afternoon heating, again clearing the way for additional attacks on the fire from small air tankers and helicopters.