Western Railroad Discussion > Massive Fire at the Deschutes River Canyon

A fire that started yesterday southeast of The Dalles, OR has blown up to 29,000 acres overnight threatening a huge part of the Deschutes River Canyon and BNSF's Oregon Trunk! The Substation Fire is burning in the Canyon from Freebridge down the Shears Falls.

https://www.opb.org/news/article/grass-fire-the-dalles-oregon-evacuation-level-3/

1. Evacuation Map of the fire in Sherman County, there is also a large area of Wasco County on fire and evacuated (not the actual area of the fire)
2. Deschutes River Canyon looking south from Gordon Ridge...this is the area of the fire.
3.  Two trains meeting at Lockit, OR.

 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/18 11:13 by funnelfan.

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What an amazing landscape...

Besides grass, what is there to burn? Started by a train?

CPRR Wrote:
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> Besides grass, what is there to burn? Started by a
> train?

Not much, grass and a few shrubs.  NO, started in an area with no tracks.

Rob

Bad news: Wildfire
Good news: Not much to burn once it passes through.

I love the area up there and was originally contemplating a short vacation up that way next week, but we opted for the Oregon Coast instead.

TJY

........ripe wheat....miles and miles of it

A fatality,  a local trying to disc a fire break.

jb

On the news tonight here in KS., they showed a wildfire out West. I don't know just where it was but there was no forest, just a fire line and a JD tractor with a disc behind it, right in front of the flames. I wonder if this is the same one just mentioned  above here? Any idea just what happened? upkpfan

"A person who deputies believe was trying to create a fire line to stop the Substation Fire was found dead Wednesday afternoon. The Wasco County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a burned tractor and found the body nearby. Deputies believe the person died as a result of being exposed to the fire."

https://www.koin.com/news/wildfires/level-3-evacuations-issued-for-fire-near-the-dalles/1308407755

Photos, Videos, talking news people.

Also road closures.

Fire is over 45,000 acres. Feeling totally sad for that poor farmer that lost his life trying to save his wheat. Just this evening I could see a smoke plume rising to the west of Spokane, but couldn't find info on which fire that is.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Seems to be a few smaller fires around Spokane, some info and photos (many News web sites are updated late at night) :

http://www.spokesman.com/news/

The normal Fire Incident Web page is not showing the Substation Fire, or the Spokane fires for that matter:

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/18 00:19 by TCnR.

ABC News story on this big fire, as of 7:25 pm PT (local time) on Wed., July 18, 2018:

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/latest-fire-knocks-power-oregon-blaze-56676314 

Fire is now at 70,000 acres, which is the same size as a square more than 10 miles on a side!

The fire in Spokane is the Upriver Becon Fire. For more information on that fire, tune into the local KREM 2 news online. The Upriver fire is 115 acres, 20% contained, and they are working on mop up around local homes. The fire is on the opposite side of the river from the railroad tracks and separated by Felts Field.

As an FYI. the Substation Fire is now listed on Inciweb.  It was not listed at 0500 hrs CDT this morning (7/19/18) when I checked. Listing depends on information received from cooperating agencies. The (speculative IMHO) containment date is not until August 3rd!.

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/18 03:15 by BCutter.

It is amazing how easy it is to start a wildfire in that short grass country up that way.  Six weeks ago, I was driving down US-97 near Shaniko, Oregon when a truck coming the other way on the highway had a trailer wheel on its right rear axle sieze up and break off.  The broken wheel (a dual tire set complete with brake drum and stub-axle) bounced on the east shoulder and then flew way up in the air over the truck, bounced once in the road (about 50 feet in front of me) and then took off into the field to my right (west).  The event started two fires, one on either side of the road - where the axle first  broke and where the broken wheel set ended up across the road from there.  We stopped to try to deal with the first fire, but it was already growing too fast less than a minute after showing first smoke - five gallons of water didn't hardly touch it.  The smoke from the fire on the west side of the road built up very fast as well, so we called 911 and reported both fires and the truck driving north on US-97 with only half an axle on the rear.
I wonder how long it took before that trucker realized he had a problem behind him.  When I last saw him, he was rolling north a couple miles away, seemingly without a care in the world.

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/18 00:02 by CimaScrambler.