Oregon State Fire Marshal officials said Monday, Sept. 4, that the wildfire that began Sunday near Highway 395 and Bensel Road had been extinguished as fire crews perfomed mop-up duty on hot spots.
Gert Zoutendijk, public information officer for the OSFM Green Incident Management Team, said around 2:30 p.m. Monday that the fire was out, but crews were dealing with small areas, stumps, underground brush and fence posts that continued to smolder.
“That is what our crews are doing right now, going around the entire fire (area) and making sure all of those (hot spots) are out, applying water and digging everything up,” he said.
According to Zoutendijk, the latest estimate for the affected area was around 1,300 acres, but he expected that figure to drop.
“Actually, we don’t have the technology we normally use with infrared flights, so we are actually having somebody go around the entire fire perimeter and document that on a map to get an accurate count acreage-wise,” he said.
Zoutendijk added there were no injuries to civilians or firefighters and limited property damage.
“Really, there was not much,” he said. “It didn’t look like it was like grasslands or anything like that. It’s just brush and grass that wasn’t cultivated or anything. There are no buildings damaged, maybe some fence posts and fences a little bit, but nothing major.”
Zoutendijk said the fire’s cause remains unknown and that the fire marshal with the Umatilla County Fire District No. 1 would investigate.
Evacuations
The UCFD1 received the call about the fire shortly after 2:30 p.m. Sunday. As it spread, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office initiated level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations.
As of around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the UCSO had issued a Level 3 evacuation — leave immediately — for north of Bensel and Progress Road across Highway 730 to the Columbia River and east of Bud Draper Road to and including Salmon Point. An evacuation notice was also issued for Bowden Lane between Sagebrush and Bensel Road, including Alpine Drive.
A Level 2 evacuation — be set to evacuate at a moment’s notice — was issued for the Hat Rock community and Yacht Club and included the McNary area north of Highway 730 to the river between Willamette Avenue and Bud Draper Road.
A Level 1 evacuation — be ready — was issued for the McNary area north of Highway 730 (Sixth Street) to the river between Devore Road and Willamette Avenue.
Law enforcement and search-and-rescue personnel went door to door to notify residents of the evacuations.
At around 11:30 a.m. Monday, the UCSO downgraded all Level 3 evacuations to Level 2 and opened closed roads, allowing residents to return to their homes.
Zoutendijk didn’t know how many people were evacuated, but around 50 homes were affected by the evacuation orders. A shelter was opened at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center, 1705 E. Airport Road. However, Zoutendijk said, because the evacuation levels were dropped Monday, the shelter was no longer needed.
Mobilization
According to the OSFM, structural firefighting resources were mobilized at 9:30 p.m. Sunday after Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act. With the declared conflagration, OSFM mobilized structural firefighters, equipment and the Green Incident Management Team, which mobilizes primarily to fire incidents that threaten lives and structures.
The OSFM also mobilized fire boss air tankers and a helicopter to support firefighting efforts.
Zoutendijk said the OSFM Green Incident Management Team assumed unified command of the scene at 8 a.m. Monday.
The UCFD1 and OSFM received assistance from Alfalfa, Bend, Clackamas, Cloverdale, Coburg, Corvallis, Crooked River Ranch, Gresham, Harrisburg, Hillsboro, Hubbard, Idanha-Detroit, Jackson County No. 5, Jefferson County, Jefferson, Junction City, Keizer, Lake Oswego, Lane Fire Authority, Lebanon, Lyons, Marion County, McKenzie, Mohawk Valley, Monroe, Philomath, Portland, Redmond, South Lane, Stayton, Sunriver and Woodburn.
Zoutendijk did not know how many firefighters battled the blaze, but about 78 people contributed just from state resources and the OSFM team. Water tankers, brush trucks and helicopters were among the vehicles used in the incident.
“It’s pretty amazing that we have neighboring fire agencies helping neighboring fire agencies no matter how far they are. Coming all the way from Lane County all the way up here to Hermiston and Umatilla to protect and help the fire service up here, so it’s a great feeling to be a part of that organization.”
Firefighting equipment from Marion and Deschutes counties arrived late Sunday night and early Monday morning, and two task forces came from Benton and Lane counties around 9 a.m. Monday.
“Right now they are doing all the mop-up,” he said. “When we arrived here there was no longer a major threat to any homes. Normally what we end up doing is when the fire gets closer or it might come towards a neighborhood or toward some homes and structures, we go and scout and triage those homes and then we make that sure if it the fire gets to them then hopefully it has a better chance to survive and doesn’t catch fire.
“By the time we got here, the fire was mostly put out, so we didn’t have to do that,” he added. “So right now our task really is to go around the perimeter from the road into the fire line 75 feet and make sure that it’s completely out and cold and nothing could potentially start another fire. So, really, that containment line is what they are working on now.”
