Sarah Brown
Firefighters from multiple agencies are working together to contain and extinguish a fire located about six miles southeast of Sweet Home.
According to a press release by Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Sweet Home area residents first alerted officials to signs of smoke in the Buck Mountain area east of Sweet Home at about 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 7. Crews from the Sweet Home Fire District and Oregon Department of Forestry South Cascade, as well as Cascade Timber Consulting Inc., responded and were able to locate a small, two-acre fire smoldering approximately one mile south from the end of Harris Road off Whiskey Butte Drive.
Nikki Swanson, United States Forest Service District Ranger for Willamette National Forest, said fire response teams made a decision early on to utilize ODF resources due to their proximity to the fire, and private timberland owners also jumped in to help.
“It was the number one fire in the region (given the proximity to homes and timberland), so we were able to get resources and get on it quickly and keep it as small as possible,” she said.
Due to steep terrain and remote location of the fire, and as a precaution to residents, a Level 1 – Be Ready evacuation notice was issued for the area. By Tuesday morning, the fire – which is being termed the “Wiley Creek Fire” – grew to approximately 10 acres in size and the USFS issued scooper planes to assist ground crews. Green Peter Reservoir was shut down from public use to allow the planes to access the water.
A Level 2 – Be Set evacuation notice was issued Tuesday evening for communities nearer the Wiley fire, and LCSO reported the fire grew to approximately 100 acres by Wednesday morning. By Saturday morning, containment of the now 220-acre fire was reported to be at 15%.
Multiple agencies reported receiving calls on Friday from residents who were concerned about not seeing any more aerial firefighting equipment. On Tuesday, five scooper planes, a jet plane and multiple helicopters were in the air to assist with the fire, creating what looked something like an “air show,” Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker said. Planes pulled water from Green Peter, the jet dropped retardant, and helicopters located the fire and helped guide ground crew to its location during those initial days.
Having such a large aerial presence provided a strong initial attack and gave time for ground crews to gather and create a plan, Tucker said.
“That initial attack is critical,” he said. “That first attack, in this case, really gave them time to get the right people here and slow that fire from attacking those homes.”
Planes and helicopters continue to be used as needed, Wiley Creek Fire Public Information Officer Natalie Weber said.
“The aircraft is there to support the folks on the ground,” she said. “Aircraft is one tool in our toolbelt and we use it when it’s going to be helpful, but if it’s not going to be helpful, we’re not going to call them.”
Tucker added that planes are not always a useful option when steep terrain makes it difficult for them to drop water on. Green Peter Reservoir remains closed to the public, but crews are also drawing water from a source much closer to the fire and out of the view of most residents.
Additionally, state and federal fire response teams and planes are also working to contain other fires in the state, including the Bedrock Fire which is burning an estimated 16,000 acres. Swanson praised the varying organizations that are working together to control the Wiley Creek Fire, including such resources as CTC, which is creating a defensible space and protecting nearby properties.
She also stressed that state-protected and federal lands are managed differently but, though the Wiley Creek Fire is on federal and private land, the two departments are working together and a decision was made early on to treat the fire under ODF command with other agencies involved on the team.
“The reason why it’s an ODF team is they were available and the fire is more threatening to values that ODF protects, like the homes in the area and private land, as well as the timber industry land,” Weber said.
Red flag warnings were issued over the weekend due to temperatures expected to reach into the 100s and gusts of winds up to 30 mph. As such, the teams have been “posturing” themselves with strategies intended to put them ahead of the conditions with strong and tight fire lines, Weber said.
“The goals on this incident are to get a line around the fire to stop it as soon as possible, to keep it as small as possible, and to put it out as quickly as we can while protecting the homes in the area as well as our natural resources and the timber industry resources that are on the outskirts of this fire,” Weber said.
An evacuation center is available for residents and their animals at the Linn County Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Rd. To get the latest information about the Wiley Fire, visit http://www.LinnSheriff.org.