MERLIN, Ore. – Firefighters continue to make progress on The Rum Creek fire in Josephine County, as containment is quickly increasing this weekend.
The fire is now at 18,966 acres and 27% contained. Firefighters say the cooler and more humid weather has played a huge role in their containment progress.
Fire officials say nearly the entire Rum Creek Fire is encircled by well-defined control lines.
The Office of State Fire Marshal is starting to remove task forces from The Rum Creek Fire and move them to The Double Creek Fire up north in Wallowa county.
“We were able to release two task forces from this local area to assist our partners on the Wallowa and our fire managers felt comfortable enough with all the work that we have done, with prepping homes and taking care of all those structures that we could release them,” said Public Information Officer, Don Hickman.
Hickman says fire crews have been working 24/7 on this fire with most of the progress being made at night.
He says overnight the winds go down and the humidity goes up allowing firefighters to do a more direct attack on the flames.
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