District Notice

Wrights Spring Fire — Klamath County

Posted August 10, 2026 · Klamath Irrigation District

The Wrights Spring Fire started August 5, 2026 in the Fremont–Winema National Forest, about six miles east of Modoc Point and southeast of Chiloquin. Governor Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act on August 7. Evacuation levels have been issued for areas around Sprague River and east of Chiloquin.

In Memory

Klamath Irrigation District extends its condolences to the family, friends, and coworkers of Jason Ensign of Klamath Falls, a contract dozer operator who was killed on the fire line on August 6, 2026.

Many of the people working this incident — on local fire districts, on contract equipment, and on the line — are K.I.D. patrons and the families of K.I.D. patrons. The District is grateful to every one of them.

This page is not an emergency information source

Fire size, containment, evacuation levels, and road closures change daily and are not maintained here. Current official sources:

If you are under a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation, go. Do not wait on animals, equipment, or headgates.

Red Cross shelters are open for people and small animals at Chiloquin Elementary School, 548 S. 2nd Ave., Chiloquin, and Living Springs Fellowship, 31897 Mission St., Bonanza. Large animals — horses, goats, pigs — go to the Klamath County Fairgrounds; cattle go through S.O.E.A.

What the District is asking of patrons

Southern Oregon Emergency Aid is asking landowners with pasture, corrals, or holding ground to make it available for livestock displaced by the fire. Many of our patrons have exactly that. K.I.D. is passing the request along.

If you can offer ground — or you need animals moved

Text your name, address, and the space you can offer — or the type and number of animals needing evacuation — to Southern Oregon Emergency Aid:

831-235-3031

Work through SOEA rather than making private arrangements, so animals are tracked and matched to their owners. Fairgrounds stalls are full, which makes offers of private ground more valuable, not less.

The District does not arrange, broker, or guarantee placements, and does not inspect the ground being offered.

The Fairgrounds needs feed and supplies

The Klamath County Fairgrounds, a K.I.D. patron, is the county's designated large-animal evacuation site. 713 animals are being housed there, cared for by Klamath County 4-H.

All horse stalls are full. The pig barn is about a third full with small animals, goats, and pigs. If you are hauling animals in, confirm space first — do not assume there is room.

Most needed right now
  • Shavings
  • Grass hay — these animals came off pasture, with nothing behind them
  • Poultry feed
  • Cat food

Also useful: dog food, pig feed, small food and water bowls (they do not need to be new — cereal bowls work), bungee cords for securing cages, and stackable wire cages.

Where: enter through Gate 3, on the Senior Center side.
When: donations accepted 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

If you need documentation for a donation — hay, feed, or supplies — ask before you deliver rather than after; arrangements are being worked out and paperwork is easier to produce at the front end than the back. Deductibility is a question for your own tax preparer. The District cannot advise on it.

If you have hay in the stack and a truck, this is the shortest distance between a K.I.D. patron and a K.I.D. patron. Needs shift daily as animals come in and go home — the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce is maintaining the current list. K.I.D. is not a collection or drop-off point.

If you take in livestock: the water question

This is the part that is actually the District's to answer, and we would rather answer it now than after the fact.

District Policy — Unchanged

Project water goes on permitted acres only, in a beneficial manner. Opening ground to displaced animals does not change what that ground is permitted for.

If the ground is enrolled in SWAP or a DRA program, call the DRA at (541) 630-0752 before you irrigate it. Those acres were enrolled off Project surface water this season, and irrigating them may affect your enrollment and your payment.

Grazing dry ground is a separate question from irrigating it. Turning animals out on dry pasture raises no water issue. Turning water on to grow feed for them does.

The 2026 supply is committed in full. Added demand comes out of the same limited pool every other patron is drawing from. There is no separate emergency allotment.

If you are unsure whether your situation crosses one of these lines, call the office before you order water — not after.

Patrons with federal grazing permits

Some K.I.D. patrons hold Forest Service permits on ground in or near the fire area. Burned allotments are normally placed in temporary non-use or suspension, and burned range is rested before restocking — so the real problem is forage for the seasons after this one. Permit and closure questions go to the Chiloquin Ranger District.

On losses: fence, spring developments, troughs, and pipeline are what gets overlooked while everyone is gathering cattle, and they are what federal cost-share may cover. Photograph and date everything before you clean up or rebuild — some programs require the agency to see the damage or approve the work first, and rebuilding early can cost you the payment. Call the Klamath Falls USDA Service Center, 1945 Main Street Suite 100, (541) 883-6924, for what applies and by when. The District does not administer these programs and cannot determine eligibility.

Water and the Sprague River drainage

The fire is burning in the Sprague River drainage, a tributary to Upper Klamath Lake. These are upstream tributary lands — not within the Klamath Project or the District's boundaries, and administered under the Klamath Basin Adjudication rather than under Project contracts. K.I.D. is monitoring conditions. Post-fire effects on inflow, water quality, and sediment cannot be assessed while the fire is still moving, and the District will not speculate on them here. Our 2026 water supply reporting continues on the Water Supply Update page and is unaffected by this notice.

Questions

District Office: (541) 882-6661 · 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Drought Response Agency (SWAP / DRA): (541) 630-0752 · info@klamathwaterbank.com
Livestock evacuation and placement (SOEA): 831-235-3031

For fire status, evacuations, and road closures, contact the Klamath County Sheriff's Office or Klamath County Emergency Management, (541) 851-3741. Please do not call the District office for fire information.

This notice is provided as a courtesy to Klamath Irrigation District patrons and reflects information as understood by the District on the date posted. It is not an emergency alert and is not a substitute for direction from the Klamath County Sheriff's Office, Klamath County Emergency Management, or incident command. Fire conditions, evacuation levels, and animal sheltering arrangements change without notice. The District does not arrange, broker, endorse, or guarantee livestock placements and assumes no responsibility for arrangements made between private parties. Nothing in this notice modifies any contract, water right, permit, program enrollment, or legal obligation.