Officials work to contain Condon fire

The Condon Mountain Fire burning about four miles northeast of Condon continued to grow this weekend, but officials overseeing the blaze said they have a good containment box around it.

The lightning-sparked fire grew to at least 328 acres by Sunday evening, when officials were set to discuss their suppression efforts and the long-term outlook for the fire with the public at the Swan Valley Community Hall in Condon.

Under the command of a Type 3 management team, crews on Sunday performed aerial ignitions to corral the fire’s southeastern flank and worked to hold fire lines on the north flank.

The fire continued to back downhill actively on the north and west flanks and is expected to grow with more hot weather.

“The goal is to take some of the fuels we know will catch out of those higher-elevation slopes, so as it approaches our containment lines it does so in an orderly fashion and we can engage it on our own terms,” fire information officer Andrew K. Johnson said of the aerial ignitions.

“We’ve got a really good box with containment lines to the north and south, a good fuel break with roads to the west and rocky cliffs on the east ... As the fire continues to back down to our containment lines, we’ll keep it in the containment box and manage it until a season-ending event of rain or snow puts it to bed. Smoke will be coming up for quite some time, but we think the most active burning period was the last few days,” Johnson said.

“There’s no guarantee in the fire world, but it’s been doing what we expected it to do and we’re confident we’ll be able to keep it contained.”

Highly visible smoke from the fire has drawn public interest, Johnson said.

“It’s putting up a lot of smoke so folks are stopping by to look. They want to hear about the current status and what we’re doing.”

The fire was detected on July 28. It grew significantly last week, reaching 150 acres by Wednesday and 283 acres by Friday.

Fifty-eight people have been assigned to the fire. That includes a 20-person hand crew, two helicopters, one engine crew, one water tender and a 17-person management team.