Firefighters who spent Sunday battling the Anderson Butte Road Fire returned to the same hillsides overnight to finish a critical job: building a line around the entire blaze. By Monday morning, September 21, crews had completed that line and laid hose along 80% of the perimeter, giving them a position from which to attack the heat still burning inside it.
The fire, along Anderson Butte Road southwest of Talent and east of Ruch, is now mapped at 78 acres, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Southwest Oregon District. That figure is higher than Sunday evening’s 60-acre estimate, but ODF said the change resulted from a more accurate mapping of the fire’s boundaries. The agency reported no additional fire growth overnight.
Sunday’s initial attack began against a grass fire that was spreading quickly. As the afternoon wore on, firefighters worked to establish a perimeter despite high temperatures, while crews extended hose and prepared to continue suppression after dark. By evening, they had wet-lined 20% of the fire. Eight 20-person hand crews, four Type 6 engines and four water tenders were ordered for the night shift to carry that work forward.
Conditions improved after sunset. Lower temperatures and increased relative humidity reduced fire activity, and crews used the overnight hours to close the line around the fire and reinforce sections already in place. By morning, the focus had turned to mop-up: moving inward from the perimeter, locating hot spots and extinguishing burning material before it can threaten the line.
The Monday assignment includes eight 20-person hand crews, four Type 6 engines, a bulldozer and six water tenders. A Type 1 helicopter and a Type 2 helicopter are available if crews need help from the air. Temperatures are expected to stay warm during the day, though slightly below Sunday’s levels, leaving firefighters with more work to do before the perimeter can be considered secure.
A completed line is a major gain for crews, but ODF has not reported the Anderson Butte Road Fire as fully contained. Firefighters must continue checking the perimeter and putting out heat that could allow flames to cross it. At the same time, the district said crews remain ready to respond if another fire starts elsewhere in southwest Oregon.
The official cause of the fire remains under investigation.