A fire that closed Highway 26 between Madras and Warm Springs Sunday night is contained thanks to a quick response by firefighters.
The cause is still under investigation.
The fire was reported about 5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Forward progress wasn’t stopped until 9:00 p.m.
The fire burned both up and downhill due to erratic winds.
“It started up here on the highway and with the winds, kind of pushed it along parallel with the highway,” said Jordan Holliday, Warm Springs Fire Incident Commander. “It also ran downhill toward the home but crews engaged with that pretty quick and stopped it from taking out any structure.”
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The fire scorched 55 acres before crews from Jefferson County, Bureau of Land Management and Warm Springs contained it.
On Monday, they focused on extinguishing hotspots before even warmer, more dangerous fire weather arrives midweek.
“Plans are for a night shift on tonight making sure everything is still looking good. Tomorrow we’ll come back in and grid the whole fire again make sure we didn’t miss any hotspots.
Two possible ignition sources are being considered: Burning material from passing cars or power lines which run through the area.
