Tuesday’s lightning storms sparked at least a dozen small fires across the Willamette Valley. Inter-agency fire crews are stretching their resources to blot out every blaze.
Tyler Church is a Spokesperson with the Department of Forestry, Eastern Lane Unit. He said it’s been a little chaotic out there.
“The areas that have been affected by the lighting include the Mohawk Valley, the lower McKenzie, the upper McKenzie, Oakridge area slightly north, Cottage Grove, kind of Sharps Creek, Fairview area and Fall Creek. So, it’s kind of spackled across the entire fire district.”
Church said Department of Forestry unit crews confirm most of the fires were below one acre, except for the blaze in Sweet Home which is three acres. Although things could change at any time, Church said there is currently no imminent threat to lives or property on any of the fires.
The High Prairie Fire north of Oakridge prompted a Level 1, “Be Ready” evacuation early Wednesday morning, and a Level 2 "Be Set" notice was issued later Wednesday for some areas near the fire.
In the upper McKenzie River, the Ore Fire, previously called the Blue 190 Fire, burning in U.S. Forest Service land above Blue River reservoir remains active as of Wednesday night. Multiple agencies continue to attack the blaze from the ground and the air.
The fire was first reported Tuesday as temperatures mounted to 100 degrees in the area. Blue River local Cookie Swetland said to beat the heat Tuesday, she and her husband went to the lake to cool off. Soon, they saw fire trucks heading up the Forest Service road above the reservoir, toward the incident.
Swetland said a lot of area residents have post-traumatic stress after the devastating Holiday Farm Fire of 2020. “Just the smell of smoke would freak people out because they’ve already lost everything and rebuilt. You know a lot of people were impacted by the fires. And one woman in McKenzie Bridge put on her Facebook that a leaf from this fire (up Blue River) landed in her yard, you know it traveled. It was a blackened leaf.”
Swetland said such a sight during a fire can trigger anxiety.
The Willamette National Forest fire service ordered evacuations for campers in the area. The Ore Fire is currently burning only in woodlands.
