CANNON BEACH Firefighters responded to a report of a forest fire on a logging road east of Hug Point Wednesday night.

Caused by a smoldering campfire, the fire worked its way through dry ground to a fallen tree and caught the tree on fire, said Lt. Matt Gardner, of the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District.

A passerby spotted the fire and reported it at 7:15 p.m. Firefighters arrived at 7:29 p.m. They saw flames and smoke for a 3-foot radius around the tree. Because the tree was across a depression in the ground, flames also started under the tree, Gardner said.

U.S. Highway 101 at milepost 33 was closed briefly and then reopened to one lane until firefighters cleared the scene.

If the fire had not been seen and reported, it could have grown exponentially, Gardner said.

There was heavy forest and heavy dust and a lot of fuel load, he said. It would have been a serious problem.

Twenty firefighters from Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District responded to the fire. The Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of Transportation also assisted.