Rain, cooldown give C. Oregon fireighters a hand

Rain and cooler temperatures have quieted wildfire activity across Central Oregon over the weekend, also giving crews who have battled larger fires for days or weeks a better chance to move toward containment of the blazes.

The Geneva 15 Fire south of Lake Billy Chinook near the Three Rivers subdivision is now being managed by a Type 4 team that will continue mopping up containment lines and monitor the fire area. The final acreage on this fire was 875 acres, with 90 percent containment reported as of Sunday morning by the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville.

The Geneva 15 Fire was reported around 4 p.m. Friday and the cause has been determined to be lightning. A few homes were evacuated for a time and one outbuilding was lost, officials said.

The Corner Creek Fire remains at 29,407 acres. Saturday’s wetting rains and cooler temperatures over much of the fire area have significantly reduced fire activity and containment is now at 75 percent, COIDC reported Sunday.

Firefighters successfully completed the contingency line at the north end of the fire. Crews and other resources also continued to mop-up along containment lines, extinguishing any burning and smoldering materials. The weather service is again predicting mostly cloudy weather today with a chance of showers and thunderstorms.

As a reminder, several closures are still in place for the Corner Creek Fire, including an Ochoco National Forest area closure and the South Fork Road/Co. Rd. 42, which is closed to the general public from near Dayville to south of the US Forest Service 58 Road junction due to fire activity.

To read the entire closure order and view a map of the area closure, please visit the Ochoco National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/ochoco/alerts-notices

Information about the Sugarloaf and Corner Creek Fires, managed by the Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team 2 of Forestry Team 2, can be found at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/38/