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Crews have a handle on the 13-acre wildfire burning just off Interstate 5 near the Oregon-California border, but they had to contend with a frozen water supply and hoses because of chilly overnight temperatures. That didn’t put a halt to operations, however, with firefighters using water-free methods to continue holding the blaze at bay. “Instead of using the water, they actually just used their hand tools to continue mopping up,” said Oregon Department of Forestry public information officer Natalie Weber. “They’ll just dig into the ground and kind of mix up the dirt and fuels that are on fire or had been and cool it off.” As of Thursday morning, the blaze was declared 65 percent contained. No homes were damaged and no evacuation notices were issued for the Wednesday afternoon fire, called I5MP4 and located off the freeway near milepost 4. ODF, Ashland Fire & Rescue, Jackson County Fire District 5 and the Colestin Rural Fire District responded to the fire, which was fueled by dry conditions and burned through rough terrain. Firefighters from ODF and Fire District 5 had to contend with an additional, smaller fire just off the freeway near milepost 11 that grew to about a half-acre on Thursday. The fires popped about a week and a half after ODF declared fire season over on lands they protect in southwestern Oregon. The 2018 season lasted 151 days, stretching from June 1 to Oct. 29. Even though fire season has been declared over, threats of wildfires in the region have not diminished. “Overnight freezing conditions dry out the leftover fuels in our region and create an increased risk for fire,” an ODF Facebook post reads. “Combined with our current forecast of low relative humidity, wind, and sunny afternoons, the risk increases even more.” Reach web editor Ryan Pfeil at [email protected] or at 541-776-4468. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil.