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Knoll Fire Outside McKenzie Bridge Causes Long-Term Closures

Willamette National Forest

While crews are mopping up and increasingly containing the Knoll Fire just east of McKenzie Bridge, parts of the affected area will be closed for a year, perhaps longer. 

At last check, the 544-acre Knoll Fire was 60 percent contained. But four miles of the McKenzie River Trail – from the Blue Pool trailhead to Deer Creek – will be closed through the summer of 2022, maybe longer.  

Credit Willamette National Forest
Damage to the Deer Creek Bridge area, from the Knoll Fire.

Darren Cross is the acting deputy Forest Supervisor for the Willamette National Forest. He added part of the McKenzie River – from Trailbridge Dam to Deer Creek – has also been affected.

“The navigability of that is no longer safe," Cross told KLCC.  "There’s trees falling into the river in that section as well. So the closure order is then placed to make sure that people stay out of those areas where there’s falling debris, falling rocks, and stump holes, and things like that.” 

Campfires remain banned throughout the entire Willamette National Forest due to extreme fire danger and ongoing wildfires.

Copyright 2021, KLCC. 

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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