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Crews making progress on Dominic Point Fire

Posted: Jul 27, 2010 5:55 PM by Allyson Weller, Mark Thorsell
Updated: Jul 28, 2010 10:24 AM


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NEAR CORVALLIS- Thanks to a change in weather and hard work by firefighters, the Dominic Point fire is holding at almost 900 acres. Crews are fighting the blaze which is located about 12 miles northeast of Hamilton in the Sapphire Range.

Fire officials say the rain is raising the humidity, and they're thankful for the lack of wind. Two helicopters have been dropping water on the fire, and retardant planes are on standby. Six crews are working on a fire line on the west and south ends of the fire.

"Everything is still incredibly dry right under the surface, so please be careful when you're out in your woods, out in your forest, because the fire danger is still high and even though we had this little moisture, it's still going to be more. This obviously is going to help us for the next couple of days, we're going to take full advantage," said Bitterroot National Forest Public Information Officer, Dixie Dies.

Officials will be watching for lightning strikes in the next few days. They say, despite the weather now, the areas are still dry. Officials think the Dominic Point fire was caused by a holdover fire from lightning on the 10th. They want to make sure they catch any new fires early on.

Willow Mountain Road remains closed to the public. An area closure around the fire is also in place; from Dominic Point the closure is approximately 4 miles north, 2 miles south, 5 miles east, and 1 mile west. A temporary flight restriction over the fire area is also in place.


NEAR CORVALLIS - The Dominic Point Fire only received trace amounts of the rain that came through the Bitterroot Valley on Monday afternoon, but fire officials say that higher humidity and cooler temperatures are helping firefighters working to contain the blaze.

The fire was also spared winds from several thunder cells that didn't fully develop as predicted.

The blaze is located 12 miles northeast of Hamilton, two miles west of Willow Mountain Lookout and fire officials estimate the blaze has grown to approximately 900 acres, since it was first discovered Sunday afternoon.

Public Information Officer Tod McKay sats that firefighter objectives are to provide for firefighter and public safety, keep the fire east of road 969, contain the fire that has moved south of Willow Creek Road, and protect Willow Mountain Lookout.

Crews are aggressively building fire line on the west and south ends of the fire and helicopters dropping water and retardant planes will be used as needed.

Willow Mountain Road remains closed to the public and an area closure around the fire is also in place.

Meanwhile, the two other lightning caused fires burning in the Sula Ranger District have now been contained. Both fires were started this week by lightning and were caught early by fire crews.

Map of the fire area


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Topics: corvallis dominic point fire

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