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Pesky Bar fire jumps line as crews grow Friday Jun 23, 2017 at 12:01 PM Jun 23, 2017 at 2:27 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman APPLEGATE — Firefighters battling steep slopes and triple-digit temperatures hope to contain by this evening a 12-acre wildfire burning since Wednesday night in the Seattle Bar area near Applegate Lake. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest doubled to 80 the number of firefighters battling the Bar fire when it grew from 8 to 12 acres after a flaming tree rolled over a hand-cut fire line Thursday night, Forest Service spokeswoman Chamise Kramer said today. The forest also was calling in a helicopter from LaGrande to help fight the blaze that was filling the Applegate Valley with smoke just as Rogue Valley residents were eyeing the high-elevation reservoir to beat this weekend's heat. "We're hitting this fire with what we'd expect to, given the hot, dry temperatures we're facing and the terrain there is pretty steep," Kramer said. Because of the heat and ongoing fire activity, the Forest Service has called in a Bureau of Land Management engine and increased patrols, Kramer said. Fire crews have targeted 6 p.m. today for official containment. The fire, considered human-caused, is southwest of Seattle Bar, a popular day-use and off-site camping area at the reservoir's south end near the Oregon-California border. The National Weather Service reports no lightning strikes in the area over the past week. The fire was discovered by someone recreating in the area and reported to the concessionaire at Hart-Tish Park along Upper Applegate Road at the reservoir's northwest edge, Kramer said. Information was relayed to forest officials at about 10:16 p.m. Wednesday, she said. Forest Service Road 1040 remained under a temporary closure today, both as a safety precaution and to create space for firefighters and equipment to gain access to the flames, Kramer said. As air temperatures increase today, the smoke is expected to lift but it likely will settle back down tonight, Kramer said. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.