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CAVE JUNCTION Massive attack by crews thwarted blaze near Rough & Ready Comment By Chris Bristol and Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Chris Bristol and Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 4:46 PM By Chris Bristol and Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 4:46 PM » Social News A four-alarm, 53-acre wildfire Saturday near the Rough & Ready lumber mill threatened 125 homes and forced 30 to 40 people to be evacuated before a massive attack stopped the fire. "We brought everything," said Jason Bayless, Illinois Valley Fire District spokesman. Illinois Valley firefighters reached the scene first, but before it was over a caravan of fire engines from all over the Rogue Valley reached the scene via the Redwood Highway, as structural task forces were called in. As many as six helicopters from the nearby Illinois Valley Airport and three air tankers from Medford were working the blaze, bombarding it with load after load of water and fire retardant in a desperate bid to save homes along Krauss Lane, Patton Bar Road and across West Fork Illinois River at Fernwood Drive, Simmons Cut, Mesa Verde Drive and Logan Cut. Arson investigators were on the scene Sunday and again Monday investigating the fire, which broke out near the back end of the mill on Krauss Lane, about five miles south of Cave Junction on the Redwood Highway. Skies were mostly clear Saturday, suggesting the fire was almost certainly human-caused. "We know it's human, we just don't know what," said Shelly Hoffer, manager of the Oregon Department of Forestry fire center in Merlin. Evacuation orders were lifted about 8:45 p.m., seven hours after the fire took off in breezy conditions. Bayless said the first units arriving at the scene reported the fire to be 2 to 4 acres with "immediate structural threat," leading quickly from "ready to go" evacuation status to a non-negotiable order of "leave now." By 7 p.m., even as air crews gained the upper hand, the blaze had grown to an estimated 35 to 40 acres. As of 8:54, however, the fire officially was reported by Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel to be contained and in mop-up mode. Among the evacuees were retirees Chuck Swift and Alexandra Olaru, whose double-wide on Mesa Verde Drive was one of dozens of homes in the rural area threatened by the fast-moving fire. Swift said the initial "ready to go" Level 2 evacuation order "bought an hour. Then they said, 'It's time.' " By then the couple had loaded some belongings, groceries, their two black Labs and a cat into their diesel pickup truck and were ready to go. They waited it out at the intersection of Krauss Lane and the Redwood Highway, their backs to the fire and their thoughts philosophical. "We'll be OK," said Swift, a retired Nevada Department of Transportation utility coordinator. "We've got the kids (their dogs) and we've got insurance. We can rebuild if we have to." "We're optimistic," chimed in Olaru, a retired biology professor. Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or [email protected] By Chris Bristol and Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Chris Bristol and Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 4:46 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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