Siskiyou Fire Nearly Contained

The Siskiyou Fire is 85 percent contained as of this afternoon, and the Deer Ridge Fire is 45 percent contained. Both fires broke out Monday. The Siskiyou Fire burned 145 acres of grass, brush and forest in the south end of Ashland, and the Deer Ridge Fire burned 630 acres of brush and some forest east of Medford.

One home and three outbuildings were burned in the Siskiyou Fire, and none in the Deer Ridge Fire. Five hundred homes, businesses and other structures were threatened by the blazes.

More than 475 firefighters are assigned to the fires. The cost, so far, of suppressing the fires is approximately $820,000.

The cause of the fires remains under investigation.