Portland Firefighters Respond to First Wildland Fire of the Summer

The fire started when a gust of wind picked up embers from a campers fire and carried them into the brush.

Salem-News.com

(PORTLAND, Ore. ) - Portland Fire & Rescue responded to the first significant Wildland fire of the season on Government Island in the Columbia River.

The first call came in at 5:50 PM and reported a "brush fire 50 feet by 100 feet and starting to catch the trees on fire".

The fire was on the east end of the island, on the south side, about a mile from the Glen Jackson Bridge.

The quickest (and easiest) way for firefighters to get to the fire was to be ferried across on fireboats.

Rescue boat 860, from the Port of Portland, and Rescue boat 17, from PF&R, took firefighters and equipment to Island.

Crews had the fire under control at about 6:30 PM, and will remain on scene for a couple hours to extinguish hot spots such as, stumps and roots burning under ground.

Marine Drive was shut down in both directions at 6:10 PM and was closed until around 7:30 PM.

The fire started when a gust of wind picked up embers from a campers fire and carried them into the brush.

The Blackberry bushes were too thick for the campers to fight the fire and they called 911.

There are no structures on Government Island only the cows that roam the island and they usually run away from fire.

There were 2 Engines, 1 Truck, Three Fireboats, and 1 Chief Officer called to fight the fire, 20 firefighters in all.

Its not to early in the Wildland fire season to remind people to be very careful with fire.

As in this case the wind can easily carry embers to dry grass and cause a far bigger problem than most people are able to handle.

Keep your campfire in a fire pit or at a safe distance from dry vegetation.

Always have a shovel and a bucket of water handy, you will need both to extinguish the fire before you leave anyway.