BROOKINGS, Ore. — Cooler temperatures and coastal moisture allowed fire crews to make progress Wednesday fighting a large blaze in southwest Oregon and keep another conflagration in the central part of the state in check, authorities said.
No new evacuations were ordered for the 156-square-mile blaze in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest near Brookings, just north of the California border, said Zach Ellinger, a fire spokesman. The blaze is burning the scars of a notorious fire from 2002 that scorched 800 square miles.
After smoldering for more than a month, the lightning-caused blaze was listed as the top firefighting priority in the nation Tuesday after rapid growth last week.
“The weather is absolutely cooperating today. We have cool marine moisture coming in off the Pacific Ocean and that’s keeping fire activity down and allowing our fire crews to go in and put down those containment lines that they’ve been wanting so badly to do,” Ellinger said.