The Williams Creek fire in the Umpqua National Forest started on 7/28/09 around 1 PM PDT. The cause is under investigation.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MFR wrote it up.
The Williams Creek fire in the Umpqua National Forest started on 7/28/09 around 1 PM PDT. The cause is under investigation. It was contained on 08/16 at 1800 PDT. The fire burned 8395 acres. No final tallies were available, but as of 08/01 the cost of the fire was 905,000 dollars.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 7:00 PM PST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
800 PM PDT FRI JUL 31 2009
.DISCUSSION...THE LATEST RADAR LOOP SHOWS JUST ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS FROM EASTERN MODOC COUNTY THEN NORTHWARD INTO LAKE
COUNTY. SINCE LATE THIS AFTERNOON THERE HAS BEEN LESS THAN 50 TOTAL
LIGHTNING STRIKES OVER KLAMATH AND LAKE COUNTIES SO FAR. THE LATEST
TREND SHOWS ACTIVITY BEGINNING TO DECREASE.
A CLOSED LOW IS LOCATED ABOUT 400 MILES WEST OF SAN FRANCISCO THIS
EVENING. THIS EVENINGS NAM RUN SHOWS THE LOW MOVING ONLY SLIGHTLY
EAST THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. CONCERNING MOISTURE...THE NAM SHIFTS
THE AXIS OF 700-500MB MOISTURE FURTHER WEST SATURDAY TO NEAR THE
CASCADES UNDER PREVAILING SOUTHEAST FLOW. WITH NO DEFINED SHORT WAVE
APPROACHING THE REGION SATURDAY...WILL HAVE TO DEPEND ON WHERE THE
REGION OF BEST MOISTURE AND STEEPEST LAPSE RATES SET UP SATURDAY FOR
THUNDERSTORMS. RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE THE BEST CHANCE WILL BE FROM
THE CASCADES EASTWARD.
&&
.AVIATION...IFR CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST ALONG THE COAST OVERNIGHT
AND SATURDAY MORNING. INLAND...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL. ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS OVER LAKE AND MODOC COUNTIES ARE BEGINNING TO
DISSIPATE.
&&
.MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY
EVENING FOR ORZ616-ORZ617-ORZ620-ORZ621-ORZ622-ORZ623-
ORZ624-ORZ625.
FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY
EVENING FOR ORZ619.
RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR ORZ624-ORZ625.
CA...NONE.
PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...NONE.
HOLTZThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Williams Creek fire was contained on 08/16 at 1800 PDT. The fire burned 8395 acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2009
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 184731.