Limepoint Fire causes visitation to drop in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area

The Limepoint Fire started because of lightning on July 24. It continues to burn next to the popular Hells Canyon Recreation Area which remains open.

Firefighters have made significant strides in the past few days on this fire as they now have it 42 percent contained as they shifted their focus over to the north side after making sure they had containment lines in Hells Canyon.

I talked with a campground host, a camper, and a business owner who all told me it's usually busy through this weekend, but there weren't many people on the lake, in the campgrounds, or fishing. They told me people stopped coming after the fire started in late July.

The Hells Canyon Park Campground host watched the flames come down the hillside towards his campground. He told me he would have been worried if he wasn't prepared with a robust sprinkler system.

The camper told me he and his wife come to Hells Canyon every year and they had already been there for about a week. He told me that it was the slowest he'd ever seen it, but the solitude has been enjoyable.

The owner of Scotty's Hells Canyon Outdoor Supply told me rafters helped sustain his business as they provide shuttles for people who float through Hells Canyon.

He told me only around five groups canceled their trips as rafters had to win a permit through a lottery system to gain entry into the deepest canyon in the country, but his business did take a hit when the anglers, boaters, and campers stopped showing up.

The Limepoint Fire came down to the road in some areas and we could see the remnants of fire retardant up on the hillside where firefighters stopped the fire from coming down to the Oxbow Dam.

Great Basin Team Four took over the fire on Sunday. They were recently assigned to the Bench Lake Fire near Red Fish Lake. The road up to two really small communities remains closed. Cuprum has a level two evacuation order while Bear has been dropped to level one.

Everything else is open in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area. The owner of Scotty's told us the road was closed for about eight hours at the beginning stages of the fire, but he has fielded several calls from people thinking that the roads were closed.

Officials do warn people to be on the lookout for debris and falling rocks on the road if you travel into this area.