The Canal Creek Fire was listed as 90 percent contained Monday evening, and 14 miles of Quartzville Road were opened on Saturday.
Quartzville Road is now open from Highway 20 to Highway 22.
The 283-acre fire is located about 21 miles northeast of Sweet Home, about 8 miles southwest of Detroit, on the Sweet Home Ranger District.
The fire started on Aug. 26.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, said spokeswoman Kim Smolt.
“The weather provided its own bucket drops Sunday as rain, heavy at times, moved across the Canal Creek Fire area,” Smolt said. “While it was still too dangerous at Canal Creek to send firefighters to a scene of steep terrain now muddied and slick from the hard rain, some did head north to complete the suppression of a small fire in the Detroit area.”
The remaining resources monitored the perimeter of the Canal Creek Fire in preparation for getting back to business Monday, thanks to a forecast of a drier day.
“The main emphasis will be on reinforcing the fire lines and mopping up hot spots,” Smolt said. “Staging areas and drop points will be inventoried for the eventual back haul of equipment. The public is asked to respect the closures in the fire area to avoid congestion on the single lane mountain roads.”
“There is still going to be traffic along Quartzville Road,” said Jennifer O’Leary, spokeswoman for the Sweet Home Ranger District. “We want to encourage folks to be cautious and remember there’s fire equipment.”
Firefighters were near completion of containment lines, and heavy helicopters remained on scene to provide support with water drops.
Milder weather conditions and moderate fire behavior allowed for substantial progress in line construction on Friday.
Mop-up is already under way, O’Leary said. Mop-up and monitoring will continue through the end of the fire season.
The fire was in old-growth Douglas fir, so the interior may have hot spots, she said. The idea of mopping up is to create a buffer zone where fire has little chance to spread. The depth of the mop-up area is determined by fire behavior analysts based on terrain and fuel models.
Officials also are beginning to talk about a rehab plan, she said. The rehab plan may include plans to get equipment out of the area, replanting, soil stabilization and other activities aimed at repairing the landscape.
The fire is the largest the Sweet Home Ranger District has seen during her 33-year career, said Lupe Wilson, a time unit manager on the type two incident management team handling the fire. She processes paperwork so contract crews, engine crews and other service providers are paid.
On this fire, she was responsible for contracting with Sunshine Industries for cleaning trailers at Lewis Creek Park. Sunshine Industries also was able to take discarded water bottles to help with its fund-raising efforts for a new building.
Outside the ranger district boundaries, the Sweet Home area had a 2,000-acre fire in the Calapooia area in 1987 and a 1,000-acre fire along the Middle Fork of the Santiam in 2006.
On the incident management team, she has responded to a number of fires and was surprised when she learned the fire was on her home district, she said. She mobilized with the type three team and transitioned to her regular type two team.
She is drawing close to retirement, she said. “I never thought this would happen in my years here.”
She had another surprise when she saw her son, Craig Wilson, show up in the morning. Craig Wilson is a seasonal fire patrol officer with the Oregon Department of Forestry and has been a firefighter for about a decade.
Lupe Wilson was at a briefing, she said. “The next thing, here comes Craig. I didn’t even know Craig was working on it.”
“It’s the first time ever he’s been in my area,” Lupe Wilson said. “My time unit was processing his pay.”
He transitioned off the fire when the type two team took over last week.
“It’s in his blood,” she said. “He’s seen me going since the fourth grade.”
The type two interagency incident management team handling the fire handed off management to a type three team Saturday, with John Poet assuming responsibility for suppression efforts.
“The complexity involved with this fire was really one of the things that led to bringing in a type two incident management team,” O’Leary said.
The initial response was with a type three team, including Willamette National Forest and Oregon Department of Forestry personnel, she said.
The incident management system has five levels of response, increasing from type five to type one.
Some 209 personnel, with six crews, three helicopters and two engines, remained on the scene Monday.
Closure areas include the Kinney Creek arm of Detroit Reservoir, Forest Road 1131 and all spurs; Forest Road 1133 and all spurs between the western junction with Quartville Road and the east junction with Forest Road 1155; and the 640 spur of Forest Road 2212.