Oregon Department of Forestry fire crews will mop up hot spots at two lightning-caused wildfires Sunday, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said in a late morning update.
Sunday’s plan is to fell up to three trees that have fires burning high up in them, and hike into one of the fires with a portable pump and draw water from a nearby creek.
“They’ll do this while minimizing the impacts to the creek and the drinking water for Forest Grove,” FGF&R said. The fires are burning in the city of Forest Grove-owned Clear Creek Watershed. Some Gales Creek residents are also supplied by the city’s municipal water supply. “This includes containing fuel spills from the pump and not using foam to help with mop up operations,” the fire agency said.
Each fire is supported by a 10-person hand crew of inmates from the South Fork Forest Camp in the Tillamook Forest. FGF&R noted that the fires had been fought by ODF crews, and that Forest Grove Fire & Rescue’s role was assisting the state agency with resources.
“All credit goes to the ODF crews and we too thank them for protecting an important resource to Forest Grove,” the local fire agency said. The area the fires are burning in are within the ODF fire protection area.
As of 9 a.m. Sunday, no new fires had been reported. ODF has crews patrolling the area, checking each location struck anew by lightning Saturday evening.
Saturday
Crews left the two fires at 5 p.m. Saturday as a new lightning storm moved in.
The first fire had already been fully lined, while the second was 90% lined when fire crews left. Just 500 feet from a road, the first fire, one-eighth-acre, had two Oregon Department of Forestry fire engines and a hand crew working on it, FGF&R said.
While scouting the area, ODF fire crews saw smoke rising from a different area of the forest.
“We used our drone to over fly the area and get GPS coordinates of the second fire,” FGF&R said.
Due to the difficult access to the second fire, ODF crews had to hike in to the fire, approximately 4,000 feet down a draw and then back up a hillside.
“Laying that much hose from an engine would have taken hours to achieve,” FGF&R said.
With a new thunderstorm fast approaching, a hand crew hiked in, lined 90% of the one-eight-acre fire, and hiked out.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
