Fire officials praised the teamwork of local organizations helping to fight the Sweet Creek Milepost 2 fire near Mapleton during a virtual community meeting Wednesday night.
The fire, set by a suspected arsonist Sunday afternoon, has grown to 382 acres. It’s 30% contained. Incident Team Commander, Joe Hessel said about 600 people are fighting the fire day and night. He says the goal is to keep the fire from growing.
“If we can minimize the size of the fire, we’re going to minimize resource damage, we’ll minimize damage to structures, minimize damage to infrastructure and other values that are at risk out there." Hessel said. "And in my opinion, we’ll also ultimately minimize the exposure to firefighters, just in terms of sheer numbers of hours worked and duration on the incident.”
Hessel said while the goal is traditional, fighting fires during COVID-19 is not. He said they’re using a health liaison to make sure crews are safe.
Sweet Creek Road is now closed to traffic between Highway 126 and milepost 3. The Siuslaw River is off limits in the area to allow helicopters access for water drops.
Evacuation notices are still in place. More information at https://www.lanecounty.org/news/sweetcreekfires
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