State still investigating foothill fire near Baker City
Oct. 10—Investigators from the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) were working Monday, Oct. 10 to try to pinpoint the cause of a fire that burned about 130 acres on the foothill just southwest of Baker City on Oct. 6.
The fire was listed as human-caused on the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center fire log.
Steve Meyer, wildland fire supervisor at ODF's Baker City office, said on Monday that the two state investigators could finish their onsite work later in the day.
It's not clear, though, when the state will release information about the investigation, Meyer said.
He said the investigators are focusing on where the fire started, near the bottom of Spring Grove Gulch, south of West Campbell Loop.
If investigators can identify the person or people responsible for starting the fire, the state could potentially try to recoup firefighting costs from them, Meyer said.
He didn't have an updated estimate for how much money was spent on the Spring Grove Gulch fire.
An MD-87 jet air tanker dropped retardant on the fire, and two helicopters dropped water. Aircraft costs for even a one-day fire can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The fire didn't damage any structures, and there were no evacuations.
Meyer said two or three engines patrolled the fire during the day over the weekend.
"There is still some heat in some of the heavier pockets of fuels," he said. Some of those pockets are inside control lines, and with warm, dry weather forecast to continue all week, Meyer said it's possible the fire could produce small amounts of smoke.
He also noted that although nights are chillier than during the summer, and the period of peak sunlight a couple hours shorter, the fire risk remains.
"Fuels are still extremely dry out there," Meyer said. "Just because it gets cold at night doesn't mean there's not a risk of fire. We just haven't gotten that good shot of rain to moderate things."
