Latest news with #OregonStateFireMarshal
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Cottonwood Canyon survives flames of Ferry Fire, will reopen June 20. How it was saved
Scott Green was driving toward Cottonwood Canyon State Park on the night of June 11 when he first saw the glow of the Ferry Fire. The park's manager couldn't tell exactly where the fire was moving, but with powerful winds swirling and the campground packed to capacity, he made the decision to evacuate the park that night. 'We got everyone out pretty quickly,' Green said about the evacuation of a park located in eastern Oregon southeast of The Dalles. 'Some folks even left their belongings and just got in their car and left fast as they could.' By the next morning, the fast-moving blaze was at the entrance of the park and the fight was on, as fire crews blasted water from engines and aircraft, and lit backburns, in an attempt to save as much of the park as possible. They succeeded well beyond Green's hopes. The Ferry Fire would eventually burn over 10,000 acres, including across the park, yet all the major buildings survived intact. Only the park's hiker/biker sites, picnic tables, shade structures and fencing were lost. Cottonwood Canyon will reopen on June 20 — a little more than a week from when the fire ignited. The park's cabins are expected to open the following week, around June 27. 'It could have been so much worse,' Green said. 'At one point with the fire all around the park, I thought we could lose everything.' Green credited two things for saving the park and allowing it to reopen so quickly. The first was firefighters, who hit the blaze with water and retardant drops from the sky, engines pumping water and fire crews lighting 'backburns' that slowed the fire from reaching structures within the park. 'Fire crews did a great job of stopping it,' Green said. 'It was an all-hands on deck firefight.' Green and park staff had also been planning for the possibility of wildfire. They recently went through a training with the Oregon State Fire Marshal on creating defensible space, and they'd prioritized it over the past year. They cleared vegetation like grass and sagebrush around the buildings and surrounded the structures with gravel. All of the structures now have metal roofs except a historic barn. "You can definitely tell where we applied it," Green said. "The cabins, for example, after the fire it was totally black in the fields in the front and in back of them. But the 50 feet we cleared around the cabins, there was nothing.' The combination of firefighters and defensible space likely saved the park's showers and bathrooms, information center, picnic shelters, historic barn, cabins, residence, boat shed and 'experience center.' Power and water have been restored to the park, and the campsites are fine, meaning people can begin to return to Cottonwood Canyon on June 20. Cabins will be open for rental about a week later, on June 27. Green said the trails at the park are open and so is access to the river where people can swim or fish. 'There are plenty of areas along the river that didn't burn at all,' Green said. However, he stressed, the look of the park is fairly different. The entire surrounding landscape, and much of the park, is black soot. 'We're hoping to get signs up that tell people to stay out of the burn areas, just because we don't know what hazard or impact on a person's health it could have,' he said. Even so, the fact that the park is able to open, just over a week from when Green first saw that glow of wildfire on the hills, is fairly remarkable. 'I think it speaks to how well defensible space really works when you do it,' Green said. Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 18 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@ or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors and BlueSky at This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Cottonwood Canyon survives flames of Ferry Fire, to reopen on June 20
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Protecting homes from Oregon wildfires: Defensible space and how it works
A live-fire demonstration showed even on a cloudy and drizzly Oregon day how defensible space and home hardening can protect against fire while buildings without can burn down quickly. The event, led by the Oregon State Fire Marshal and Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), was held on June 25 at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in Salem. The event comes as Oregon faces what could be a challenging wildfire season. Here's what to know about defensible space and how to protect your home from wildfires. During the demonstration, the structure that was wildfire defensible had a 5-foot non-combustible buffer between vegetation, a metal fence, non-combustible roof and a fiber cement board window. The other had vegetation near the house, debris on the roof and no non-combustible features. Firefighters ignited fire near both structures. The structure that was not set up with defensible space completely burned down. The one with defensible space was just fine. Defensible space is a buffer, typically 5-feet, created between a home and the surrounding grass, trees, shrubs or other wildland areas. The purpose of the buffer is to slow or stop a wildfire from burning a structure down. 'The research has shown us that if you can keep that ignition 5-feet away from the structure, you give yourself an amazing chance to be able to survive,' Roy Wright, CEO of IBHS, said. 'Most importantly, the 5-feet closest to it is all non-combustible.' Wright said gravel would work well to surround a house. Instead of a wooden fence, a defensible home would have a metal fence, a non-combustible roof, open eaves and fiber-cement board in the windows. 'With these pieces, all that makes it better, but fundamentally, it's this 5-feet,' Wright said. Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said more homes are becoming fuel for wildfires. 'It's no longer just a wildfire out in the forest,' Ruiz-Temple said. 'We're actually seeing that when things like this occur, we are seeing fuels and our fencing actually become the fuels that really start these large conflagrations in Oregon.' Ruiz-Temple said the easiest thing Oregonians can do to protect their home from a wildfire is to create a 5-foot buffer space. 'We've had our fourth largest, most destructive fire in terms of loss, and it's only June,' Ruiz-Temple said of this year's Rowena Fire. The fire started June 11 and burned down 56 homes and 91 properties in The Dalles. 'We do expect that conditions are going to continue to worsen over the fire season. If there's anything that we can do now, it's that 0 to 5-foot zone.' Cottonwood Canyon State Park went up in flames due to the Ferry Fire on June 11 that burned more than 10,000 acres. Many of the park's structures would have burned, but the park had gone through training with OSFM on creating defensible space. They cleared vegetation like grass and sagebrush around the buildings, surrounded the structures with gravel and applied metal roofs. That likely saved the park's showers and bathrooms, information center, picnic shelters, historic barn, cabins, residence, boat shed and 'experience center.' The park reopened June 20. Mariah Johnston is an outdoors journalism intern at the Statesman Journal. Reach her at mjohnston@ This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: How to create a defensible home to prevent Oregon wildfire disasters
New York Post
12-06-2025
- Climate
- New York Post
Thousands evacuated in Oregon as 3,500-acre wildfire scorches homes
The Rowena Fire in northern Oregon continued to burn Thursday after having scorched thousands of acres, destroying at least 20 homes and other structures and forcing many residents to evacuate. Located about 75 miles east of Portland along the Columbia River, the Rowena Fire has burned more than 3,500 acres and is 0% contained. The Oregon State Fire Marshal said the wildfire began Wednesday near the community of Rowena, where 30-mph winds helped the fire to quickly spread. The Rowena Fire has been fueled by record-low moisture, along with gusty winds, according to the OSFM. The winds have also been shifting, leading officials to expand the evacuation zones early Thursday morning. Officials warned of more wind shifts, poor visibility and hazardous conditions that will continue to create dangerous circumstances, particularly for drivers. They also urged residents to follow evacuation instructions promptly and stay up-to-date on the wildfire. 3 A fast-moving wildfire in northern Oregon threatened homes in Wasco County on June 12. Oregon State Fire Marshal via Storyful 3 Map and data on the Rowena Fire in northern Oregon. FOX Weather 3 Fire crews from multiple counties were deployed to fight the Rowena Fire in Wasco County, Oregon. Wasco County Sheriff's Office via Storyful 'This is only the beginning of what could be a difficult year,' said Travis Medema, chief deputy with the Oregon State Fire Marshal. 'This fire is occurring under unseasonable conditions and record-low fuel moistures – combined with unstable wind patterns, all of which signal a long and potentially dangerous fire season across the state.' According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about 34% of Oregon is experiencing abnormally dry conditions with nearly 18% of the state in a Level 1 drought.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Thousands evacuated in Oregon as 3,500-acre wildfire scorches homes
ROWENA, Ore. – The Rowena Fire in northern Oregon continued to burn Thursday after having scorched thousands of acres, destroying at least 20 homes and other structures and forcing many residents to evacuate. Located about 75 miles east of Portland along the Columbia River, the Rowena Fire has burned more than 3,500 acres and is 0% contained. The Oregon State Fire Marshal said the wildfire began Wednesday near the community of Rowena, where 30-mph winds helped the fire to quickly spread. The Rowena Fire has been fueled by record-low moisture, along with gusty winds, according to the OSFM. The winds have also been shifting, leading officials to expand the evacuation zones early Thursday morning. Officials warned of more wind shifts, poor visibility and hazardous conditions that will continue to create dangerous circumstances, particularly for drivers. They also urged residents to follow evacuation instructions promptly and stay up-to-date on the wildfire. How To Watch Fox Weather "This is only the beginning of what could be a difficult year," said Travis Medema, chief deputy with the Oregon State Fire Marshal. "This fire is occurring under unseasonable conditions and record-low fuel moistures – combined with unstable wind patterns, all of which signal a long and potentially dangerous fire season across the state." According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about 34% of Oregon is experiencing abnormally dry conditions with nearly 18% of the state in a Level 1 article source: Thousands evacuated in Oregon as 3,500-acre wildfire scorches homes
