The Rail fire near Unity has burned more acres over the past 24 hours than on any day in the past week, growing by about 3,000 acres to an estimated 21,600 acres.

Most of that spread, which started Monday afternoon and continued into Tuesday afternoon, was at the southwest corner near the Table Rock Lookout in the Monument Rock Wilderness, said Bernie Pineda, a spokesman at the fire camp in Unity.

The fire crossed Forest Road 1370, which leads to the lookout tower and was the contingency line for that end of the fire.

“Our line was compromised in that area,” Pineda said this afternoon. “We’ll have to start from scratch.”

Fire managers from the overhead team that took over responsibility for the blaze today are assessing places south of Road 1370 to build a new contingency line.

Pineda said crews will need to build three to five miles of line to tie into existing control lines on the east side of the fire, which have not been breached.

The growth over the past day has been south into the Monument Rock Wilderness, not toward private property.

The other sides of the fire have also been relatively quiet, with all the burning happening inside control lines, Pineda said.