Firefighters continue to fight to slow the spread of a wildfire in private forestland and a portion of Bureau of Land Management land about 1 mile southeast of Mapleton in western Lane County.
The fire originally reported Sunday afternoon was first reported at 300 acres late Sunday, and has since grown as of late Monday afternoon at more than 520 acres. The fire is in steep terrain on the south side of the Siuslaw River and was last reported to be burning toward the south away from Mapleton.
Fire crews aided by six bulldozes, five water tenders, an excavator and a processor, are reinforcing control lines that were quickly established after the fire was first reported Sunday afternoon. They are adding water hoses to the fire lines and working to extend those lines. However, containment remains officially at 0%.
Meanwhile, two helicopters are taking water from the Siuslaw River to drop on the fire. Oregon Department of Forestry fire officials are asking the pubic to avoid the area downstream from Mapleton in the Hadsall Creek Road section of the Siuslaw River where the helicopters are refilling their buckets. Fire officials are also asking the public to avoid the Hadsall Creek Road and Sweet Creek Road areas because of heavy firefighting traffic.
Lane County Sheriff has eight homes under a Level 3 immediate evacuation order and 24 homes under a Level 2 be prepared evacuation order.
A number of local firefighting agencies have been assisting on the fire, including the Mapleton Fire Department, the Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue as the Reedsport Volunteer Fire Department covered for Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue and the Swisshome-Deadwood Rural Fire Protection District.
Other agencies aiding in the fire include the Lance County Emergency Management, Lane County Road Department, Lane County Sheriff, Oregon Department of Transportation and USDA Forest Service wildland firefighters from the Siuslaw National Forest.
Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team One led by Joe Hessel, took command of the fire at 6:00pm Monday night, freeing up local resources to focus again on the initial attack on any new fires in the coming days.
