Oregon Road, Gray fires near full containment

Firefighters working the Oregon Road fire near Elk made significant progress as the containment level jumped from 44% to 79% Tuesday morning.

The Gray fire near Medical Lake remained at 85% containment.

The fires, which started Aug. 18, combined to burn nearly 21,000 acres and 366 homes.

Crews continued to mop up hot spots, address impacts from fire suppression activities and improve containment lines on the Oregon Road fire, according to fire officials. Most sections of the fire transitioned from mop-up activities to patrol.

Air resources continued to help firefighters in hot spot detection, reconnaissance and water bucket drops on the east side of the fire.

In Medical Lake, crews continued Monday to find and extinguish hot spots around homes and other structures. At least one flareup around a home was detected and suppressed.

Firefighters planned to detect and put out flareups again Tuesday. They also increased efforts toward “fire repair,” such as repairing fences cut for firefighter access and restoring areas where fire lines were created.

More than 1,000 people are assigned to the fire suppression effort.

Warm weather and gusty winds arrived Tuesday afternoon ahead of a cold front that pushed into the area and brought light rain later in the day.

Up to one-third of an inch of rain was possible through Wednesday night at the Gray fire and up to an inch was possible at the Oregon Road fire, said Daniel Butler, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Spokane.

There were a couple lightning strikes within a few miles of the Gray fire Tuesday but not near active burning, Butler said.

He said winds were expected to be strong Wednesday morning, with gusts up to 30 mph in the area.

The causes of the fires are under investigation.