West Coast Fire Thread

[R7ehr]

Seems odd that the only reason the home was saved was because the homeowner provided the needed resources. This is why we don’t just leave our homes to the care of the firefighters.

Homeowner's pre-staged equipment helps firefighters save Prineville-area home

Quick-thinking firefighters saved a multi-story home on Mill Creek Road near Prineville Wednesday night after arriving to find a fast-moving fire bearing down on the structure. They used equipment the homeowner had staged in advance to knock down the flames.

Here is the full description from the Rowe Creek Complex - West Zone Facebook page:

Wednesday night, firefighters responded to reports of fire threatening a home in the Mill Creek Road area. An advance group of division personnel arrived first and found extreme fire behavior, with torching junipers and fast-moving grass fire bearing down on the multi-story home. The fire had already ignited the deck.

What happened next highlights the preparation, training, and teamwork that make a difference on the fireline.

The homeowner had left behind a water tender, pump, and hose, ready for use. Firefighters immediately put the equipment to work, removing burning deck boards and extinguishing flames on the structure. They then entered the home, searched for occupants, and confirmed no one was inside.

Soon after, a strike team of engines arrived and worked through the night to extinguish remaining hotspots and ensure no fire had spread into the walls, attic, or basement. Crews used infrared cameras to locate and eliminate any lingering heat.

The result: a home saved.

This successful save was made possible by several key factors:

The property had defensible space, allowing firefighters to safely access and protect the structure.
The homeowner's preparation provided critical equipment when every minute mattered.
Firefighters relied on their training, quickly assessing the situation, protecting life and property, and stopping the fire before it could claim the home.
As crews continue making steady progress on the #rowecreekcomplex despite challenging weather and fuel conditions, this save is a reminder that preparation, planning, and teamwork can make all the difference.

https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news ... c7917.html

[R7ehr]

Fire in Spokane this evening. It even jumped a river. Multiple structures gone already.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/ ... ghts-area/

This is why after enough experience, people just won’t leave. They are not trusting the police to let them back in if they leave. The police block road access, which makes sense. Although recently, if you can show your ID that you do in fact live down the closed road, they are more likely to let you pass.
This is the sort of thing that causes the firearms to come out. You have these country people who are used to taking care of their property, used to risks, and used to weapons, and not used to being told they can’t go on their own property by a cop. And they know that they can’t trust the firefighters to save anything, and they know that most homes can be kept from burning with just a bit of effort.

From the article:

Bob Moore raced up North Government Way Saturday but was intercepted by Spokane Police.

“You got to let me go up there, man,” Moore called from his truck window.

“I can’t let you up there right now,” the officer told him.

“My shop, my house. I need to protect my house,” Moore pleaded.

The officer called around, made an attempt to try and get Moore up to his home. “I’m worried about my stuff.”

“I’m sorry,” the officer told him.

Moore told The Spokesman-Review his wife grabbed their “go-bags” and their dogs and was waiting at the bottom of the hill.

“She called and said ‘You got to come home right now.,’” Moore said as he watched the plume of smoke erupt past Riverside State Park.

Others who were intercepted at the roadblock on North Government Way were crying and pleading with police to let them up the hill. There was nothing police could do, they said.

[ken_sylvania]

Seems odd that the only reason the home was saved was because the homeowner provided the needed resources. This is why we don’t just leave our homes to the care of the firefighters.

Homeowner's pre-staged equipment helps firefighters save Prineville-area home

Quick-thinking firefighters saved a multi-story home on Mill Creek Road near Prineville Wednesday night after arriving to find a fast-moving fire bearing down on the structure. They used equipment the homeowner had staged in advance to knock down the flames.

Here is the full description from the Rowe Creek Complex - West Zone Facebook page:

Wednesday night, firefighters responded to reports of fire threatening a home in the Mill Creek Road area. An advance group of division personnel arrived first and found extreme fire behavior, with torching junipers and fast-moving grass fire bearing down on the multi-story home. The fire had already ignited the deck.

What happened next highlights the preparation, training, and teamwork that make a difference on the fireline.

The homeowner had left behind a water tender, pump, and hose, ready for use. Firefighters immediately put the equipment to work, removing burning deck boards and extinguishing flames on the structure. They then entered the home, searched for occupants, and confirmed no one was inside.

Soon after, a strike team of engines arrived and worked through the night to extinguish remaining hotspots and ensure no fire had spread into the walls, attic, or basement. Crews used infrared cameras to locate and eliminate any lingering heat.

The result: a home saved.

This successful save was made possible by several key factors:

The property had defensible space, allowing firefighters to safely access and protect the structure.
The homeowner's preparation provided critical equipment when every minute mattered.
Firefighters relied on their training, quickly assessing the situation, protecting life and property, and stopping the fire before it could claim the home.
As crews continue making steady progress on the #rowecreekcomplex despite challenging weather and fuel conditions, this save is a reminder that preparation, planning, and teamwork can make all the difference.

https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news ... c7917.html

Makes it sound like the first firefighters that arrived were more of an advance squad and did not have an engine or other water source? In which case the fact that the homeowner had a water source available may have made the difference in whether they could keep the fire at bay until the engine arrived?

[R7ehr]

Seems odd that the only reason the home was saved was because the homeowner provided the needed resources. This is why we don’t just leave our homes to the care of the firefighters.

Homeowner's pre-staged equipment helps firefighters save Prineville-area home

Quick-thinking firefighters saved a multi-story home on Mill Creek Road near Prineville Wednesday night after arriving to find a fast-moving fire bearing down on the structure. They used equipment the homeowner had staged in advance to knock down the flames.

Here is the full description from the Rowe Creek Complex - West Zone Facebook page:

Wednesday night, firefighters responded to reports of fire threatening a home in the Mill Creek Road area. An advance group of division personnel arrived first and found extreme fire behavior, with torching junipers and fast-moving grass fire bearing down on the multi-story home. The fire had already ignited the deck.

What happened next highlights the preparation, training, and teamwork that make a difference on the fireline.

The homeowner had left behind a water tender, pump, and hose, ready for use. Firefighters immediately put the equipment to work, removing burning deck boards and extinguishing flames on the structure. They then entered the home, searched for occupants, and confirmed no one was inside.

Soon after, a strike team of engines arrived and worked through the night to extinguish remaining hotspots and ensure no fire had spread into the walls, attic, or basement. Crews used infrared cameras to locate and eliminate any lingering heat.

The result: a home saved.

This successful save was made possible by several key factors:

The property had defensible space, allowing firefighters to safely access and protect the structure.
The homeowner's preparation provided critical equipment when every minute mattered.
Firefighters relied on their training, quickly assessing the situation, protecting life and property, and stopping the fire before it could claim the home.
As crews continue making steady progress on the #rowecreekcomplex despite challenging weather and fuel conditions, this save is a reminder that preparation, planning, and teamwork can make all the difference.

https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news ... c7917.html

Makes it sound like the first firefighters that arrived were more of an advance squad and did not have an engine or other water source? In which case the fact that the homeowner had a water source available may have made the difference in whether they could keep the fire at bay until the engine arrived?

I think that sounds correct. If the homeowner would have stayed there, he may have been able to keep the fire off the porch.

[ken_sylvania]

Seems odd that the only reason the home was saved was because the homeowner provided the needed resources. This is why we don’t just leave our homes to the care of the firefighters.

Makes it sound like the first firefighters that arrived were more of an advance squad and did not have an engine or other water source? In which case the fact that the homeowner had a water source available may have made the difference in whether they could keep the fire at bay until the engine arrived?

I think that sounds correct. If the homeowner would have stayed there, he may have been able to keep the fire off the porch.

Right

[R7ehr]

A couple days ago about 700 firefighter arrived into town to help with the growing Bench Fire which is currently showing 67,000 acres, and 52% contained.

As the sun set into a smoke-choked sky across Jefferson County on Wednesday night, hundreds of firefighters packed the parking lot of Madras High School, the epicenter of the battle to douse the raging 60,000-acre Bench fire burning on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

Equipment, catering trucks, showers and tents for nearly 700 personnel fighting the blaze filled the parking lot, football field and surrounding streets of the high school. As hundreds of workers returned to their quarters for the day, gathering for food and socializing around their giant rigs, hundreds more assembled for an evening briefing before heading out for the night shift.

The massive operation was established in just two days and enlisted the support of more than 20 agencies from Portland to San Diego. The resources came after at least four homes and two sheds on the reservation burned to the ground earlier in the week, residents said.

Meanwhile, life largely went on as normal throughout Madras on Wednesday. Outside of the smoke and the dozens of fire engines and support vehicles dotting gas stations and fast-food restaurants up and down U.S. 97, people carried on.

Residents filled their cars with gas, bought groceries, walked the streets and worked fields despite hazardous air quality ratings that blanketed central Oregon.

Along the side of the highway in downtown Madras, Reese Maharat served food from her family’s Thai food cart, Lao Teng Thai Kitchen.

Maharat said smoke from the Bench fire, along with the 300,000-acre Rowe Creek complex burning east of Madras, had made her outdoor job and even breathing difficult. She described the air as being filled with “soot-like particles and charcoal dust.”

Nevertheless, Maharat said, there had been little impact on customers, or on daily life in Madras. Red Cross shelters opened for evacuees remained nearly empty, as did a large-animal shelter at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

While Maharat served up her cart’s signature chicken rice and residents went about their evening errands, firefighters made significant progress against the Bench fire, according to incident command spokesperson Michelle Perez, who had traveled from Arizona to the blaze.

Crews set out Wednesday facing an unpredictable blaze that was just 3% contained and had grown by nearly 15,000 acres overnight. By the end of the day, as firefighters gathered around the makeshift cafeteria on the front lawn of Madras High School, containment had climbed to 22%.

The jump in containment offered a rare piece of good news for crews who had spent nearly a week battling bone-dry fuels, steep terrain and erratic winds across the southeastern portion of the 640,000-acre reservation.

Standing in the high school parking lot outside the night-shift briefing, Perez said crews were hopeful heading into the coming days, with winds forecast to ease.

As a Chinook helicopter trailing a long hose thundered overhead, Perez said aircraft had finally been able to get into the air Wednesday afternoon after heavy smoke grounded them for much of the morning.

As for Madras, where signs of support and gratitude proliferated, Perez said residents had been “fantastic.” She pointed to the dozens of messages displayed throughout town, from the marquee outside Starbucks to homemade posters thanking firefighters for their work.
https://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20 ... -fire.html

I just drove out to see the Round Butte Fire that started today. It is dusk, didn't see any aircraft. However, it was impressive to see all the ground units. Must have been 30 firetrucks strung out across a few miles. I think they will get this one out right away. I wonder if there are more equipment available because so many came to town this week to fight the Bench Fire. This Round Butte Fire is closer to town than the Bench Fire is.

[R7ehr]

Currently:
Akawa Butte Fire, 27,000 acres, 85% contained.
Brewer Fire /Rowe Creek Complex, 313,000 acres, 57% contained. This one is a few fires joined together. Oregon was mad at the Feds, because FEMA didn't approve funds for this fire until very recently. This one is also circling the Mill Creek Wilderness, which has a lot of heavy timber. And official designated wildernesses have very strict ban on motorized equipment. And they cannot drop fire regular fire retardant from the air either. So that means dropping water (I guess), and fighting the fire on the ground with hand tools? At any rate, it is going to be different and more difficult.
Second Flat Fire, 105,000 acres, 20% contained.
Coleman Creek Fire, 252,000 acres, 0% contained.
Bald Mountain Fire, 79,000 acres, 22% contained.
Hat Fire, 44,000 acres, 93% contained.
Big Grass Fire, 314,000 acres, 21% contained.
Shingle Fire, 67,000 acres, 10% contained
Little Buck FIre/Hay Creek Complex, 200,000 acres, 98% contained.
Grasshopper Fire, 26,000 acres, 0% contained.

[R7ehr]

Oregon isn’t allowing insurance companies to quickly cancel coverage. https://dfr.oregon.gov/insure/home/stor ... -order.pdf

Oregon insurance regulators have ordered property and casualty insurers to suspend policy cancellations in wildfire affected areas, extend premium payment deadlines and give wildfire evacuees more time to file claims, as the state grapples with a dozen active conflagrations this summer.

This order requires all property and casualty insurance companies to take proactive measures to protect people in wildfire affected areas. The order:

-Suspends cancellations and nonrenewals
-Establishes a grace period for premium payments for all insurance policies issued, delivered, or covering a risk in the affected areas
-Extends all deadlines for policyholders to report claims or submit other communication related to claims
-Take all practicable steps to provide opportunities for policyholders to report claims

The order applies to all insurance companies transacting property and casualty insurance in Oregon. It provides temporary protections to policyholders in affected areas, including those in ZIP codes subject to wildfire evacuation notices as provided in the order. The emergency order follows Gov. Tina Kotek’s state of emergency declaration on June 16 due to the imminent threat of wildfires. Since that declaration, Gov. Kotek has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for 11 fires.


https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news ... ecf0e.html

[temporal1]

This might be a duplicate.

The map allows zooming in+out, not Washington, or the West Coast, alone.

prodigywildfire / Washington++
https://prodigywildfire.com/fire-map/washington

[Ernie]

Seems odd that the only reason the home was saved was because the homeowner provided the needed resources. This is why we don’t just leave our homes to the care of the firefighters.

Makes it sound like the first firefighters that arrived were more of an advance squad and did not have an engine or other water source? In which case the fact that the homeowner had a water source available may have made the difference in whether they could keep the fire at bay until the engine arrived?

I think that sounds correct. If the homeowner would have stayed there, he may have been able to keep the fire off the porch.

RZehr, is there an understanding developing among firefighters that if a homeowner has water and equipment that firefighters should be quick to use it? Or was this an anomaly?

In cities, there are fire hydrants that all firemen know how to hook up and operate. At some new commercial buildings here in PA, an inspected water reservoir tank is installed on the property with a 6" suction pipe installed in the tank so that firemen can quickly hook up. (This tank can be installed as an alternative to a more costly sprinkler system)

I'm wondering if some similar standardized systems might be put in place for homeowners.