By TED TAYLOR
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
Central Oregon firefighters on Sunday afternoon mopped up hotspots and worked to improve containment lines for a nearly 400-acre wildfire near a subdivision four miles northeast of La Pine.
The Rosland Road Fire was 30% contained as of 6 p.m. Sunday night and crews were able to keep it from growing. It remained at 393 acres, according to Central Oregon Fire Information.
Early on Sunday an evacuation notice was lifted for residents of the Newberry Estates subdivision as crews were able to get a handle on the forward progress of the Rosland Road Fire.
#RoslandRoadFire Mop-up operations on the fire. Part of hardest part of being a firefighter doing the very manual and detailed work of checking for and treating hot spots that could flare up later. Not as dramatic as active flames, but a very important part of the job. pic.twitter.com/DiY39UnT5h
— Central OR Fire Info (@CentralORFire) July 19, 2020
The fire started around 2 p.m. Saturday and was initially estimated at 30 acres. It quickly grew to 50 acres then to 200 acres before nearly doubling in size overnight.
Multiple crews on the ground included two Hotshot Crews, which were getting help from above with a helicopter and two heavy air tankers, said Jean Nelson-Dean, a Deschutes National Forest spokeswoman.
They also got some help as the fire ran into areas previously treated for fire fuels. Images show the difference between untreated areas – where crown fires were abundant – and treated areas where the flames remained close to the ground.
Nelson-Dean said 180 firefighters as part of the Type 3 Team took over management of the fire.
