At approximately 6:33p today, 911 dispatchers started to receive calls of a possible fire at Hilton Fuel, located on the 8000 block of Blackwell Rd near Central Point.
Jackson County Fire District 3 (JCFD3), Medford Fire (MFD), and Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), all responded to the scene.
Upon arrival, the first JCFD3 unit stated there was a private water tender working a large bark fire. Smoke was highly visible from nearby I5, as well.
Fire command quickly sized up the situation and determined a second alarm was not needed. An ODF helicopter, returning to their Medford base from another unrelated fire, provided an arial overview of the fire. The helicopter crew relayed that there was minimal spread to the surrounding vegetation and that ground crews had done a good job in their initial attack.
The fire was mostly contained to one large bark pile, but did spread to approx 1/1000th of an acre. There were no evacuations issued during the roughly 2 1/2 hour firefight and mop up. Overall, ten fire units from various agencies worked the incident.
The area was under an active Red Flag Warning during the fire, which made the situation even more tense for surrounding neighbors who were watching the smoke billow from nearby Tolo Road. There were no reported injuries, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
