KANE COUNTY – The Shingle Fire is now 75 percent contained and has dropped to 8,000 acres. A number of evacuation orders have also been cancelled; allowing evacuees to return home Monday.
The Kane County Sheriff’s Office rescinded evacuation orders for Harris Flat and state Highway 14 areas as of 8 a.m. Monday. Stout Canyon and Dairy Canyon subdivisions are also opened. However, north access to Stout Canyon Road remains closed.
Road closures remain in effect where the Heaton Ranch meets the Dixie National Forest property on the north side, continuing up from Stout Canyon Road to state Highway 14.
The Central Oregon Incident Management Team and the firefighters are estimating 100 percent containment of the fire by end of shift Tuesday evening. At 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Team will return management of the fire back to the Dixie National Forest.
“The next monsoonal weather will set in on Thursday and continue through the weekend”, stated Scott Weishaar, Incident meteorologist. The moisture will aid in reducing heat and smoke within the interior of the fire.
Firefighters continue to extinguish hot spots via mop-up and gridding techniques.
Mop-up consists of checking for hot spots on the ground and in burned out logs and stumps. Gridding involves searching for a small fire by systematically travelling over an area on parallel tracks or gridlines. Mop-up standards are extinguishing all heat sources within 300-feet of the perimeter.
Rehabilitation work which includes water barring suppression lines has begun and will continue until rehabilitation standards are met.
Previous updates can be found here.
Email: mkessler@stgnews.com
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright 2012 St. George News
