CANYONVILLE, Ore. (AP) -- Heavy rains have slowed the spread of a 3,666-acre fire near Roseburg, and fire officials said Monday that the Bland Mountain Fire No. 2 was 60 percent contained.
Fire investigators still don't know the cause of the fire, which broke out Friday evening and has burned two homes and three outbuildings while threatening 14 more.
The fire, which has over 1,200 people fighting it, has so far cost more than $1.2 million to fight.
The fire is burning in 12-to-15-year-old timber planted after the original 1987 Bland Mountain fire that destroyed several homes, killed two men and burned some 10,000 acres.
Oregon forest fires this summer so far have been significantly smaller than in the past few years. But an analysis at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center shows that the sheer number of forest fires in Oregon is running ahead of average.
``It isn't a case of so few fires,'' Marc Hollen, a coordination center spokesman, told The Oregonian.
Instead, he said, it's a matter of fewer fires that developed into big ones.
According to Hollen's calculations, Oregon has averaged 2,804 reported forest fires over the past 10 years. This year, there have been 2,901 reported fires.
The drop is in the acreage involved. The 10-year average is 297,704 acres on fire, compared with just 22,438 acres so far this year
Hollen said a staff meeting recently concluded that much of the reason for the smaller size of the fires is the increased emphasis on fire prediction and the pre-positioning of firefighting resources, including helicopters, that start attacking the fires sooner.
It also helps, he said, that other states haven't had big fires that draw on Oregon firefighters and equipment.
