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WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
The Terwilliger Fire along Cougar Reservoir in Willamette National Forest. US FOREST SERVICE
Fire
Continued from Page 1A
The report also details an investiga-
tion to find the responsible party that
includes DNA testing a Pepsi can, fin-
gerprinting a bag of pineapple, explod-
ing fungus and searching surveillance
video for a match to social media ac-
counts.
The investigation lasted for more
than a year — from Aug. 19, 2018, to Nov.
6, 2019 — before law enforcement closed
the case due to “a lack of evidence.”
Even so, the report offers a fascinat-
ing look at the challenges of trying to de-
termine who was responsible for a wild-
fire that altered one of Oregon’s most
famous outdoor destinations.
A burning stump: how the fire
originated
In the days leading up to the Terwil-
liger Fire, the forest was ready to ex-
plode.
The summer of 2018 was a record-
breaking one for Oregon, a season when
wildfires torched an area the size of
Rhode Island and the cost to fight them
hit an all-time high of $515 million.
The worst situation was in Southern
Oregon, but by August 19, drought and
unrelenting heat created a tinderbox in
the forests around Terwilliger.
“The day the fire started, the energy
release component — which is the mea-
sure we use to determine fire danger —
actually broke a record,” Cross said.
All it needed was a spark.
That arrived from an old-growth
stump sitting along Rider Creek, just be-
low the hot spring pools at a popular
place to smoke cigarettes and marijuana
and drink.
At 2:25 p.m., an unnamed couple
came across a fire burning on the top of
the stump. They reported it to an em-
ployee of American Land and Leisure,
the concessionaire that manages the
hot springs under a contract with the
Forest Service.
The employee took a picture of the
stump before it had spread into the
“nearby forest fuels,” the report said. A
picture included shows the fire almost
oozing out of the stump.
It’s unclear exactly how the fire
moved from the stump to the forest — a
chunk of the report is redacted — but
the investigation says the employee
“tried to suppress the smoldering old
growth stump using fire extinguishers
and water bottles. With the reported
winds at the time of the incident, the fire
could not be contained.”
The blaze grew quickly. By 3 p.m., No-
ble, who was at the hot springs with his
10-year-old son Parker, said fire had be-
gun to engulf the trail leading to the hot
springs.
After Noble and his son leaped
through the wall of flames, he said:
“Looking back, we see could see the fire
running up the mountain. I knew it was
going to get big because it was just so
dry in there.”
Forest Service officials arrived quick-
ly, swept the area and were able to get
everyone out, but the fire raged out of
control, leaping Cougar Reservoir and
starting a second fire near the Three Sis-
ters Wilderness.
“At first, we thought there were peo-
ple out like, lighting fires, because we
couldn’t figure out how two wildfires
popped up at the same time so far
apart,” Cross said. “Then we realized
that the embers from the main fire trav-
eled a quarter-mile, over to the other
side of the reservoir, and started the
second fire.”
Fire teams focused on keeping the
blaze contained on the west side of the
fire, to prevent it from spreading onto
private timberland, while the fire spread
deeper into the wilderness on the east
side. It burned through August and Sep-
tember, and it wasn’t 100 percent con-
tained until October.
Cause of the fire, and odd
behavior as the blaze took off
The fire was human-caused, that
much was clear. What isn’t clear is ex-
actly how the stump began smoldering
and lit aflame.
The most probable cause of the Ter-
williger Fire was “from a possible hot set
or a smoking-related smoldering igni-
tion,” the fire investigation says.
It’s unclear exactly what is meant by
“hot set,” but the investigator wrote that
“it is possible that someone may have
used a lighter to hot set the stump. A
lighter was found about 250 feet to the
east of the stump, but it was very rusty
and had been there for some time.”
As for the smoking theory, the report
notes the area is a popular place to
smoke cigarettes and marijuana, and
“based on the weather, fuel moistures
and the type of fine decayed woody ma-
terial found at the top of the stump, it’s
probable that a smoking related ignition
may have smoldered there for some
time before it was detected by hot
springs visitors.”
The scene after the fire took off ap-
pears chaotic at best. Eyewitnesses re-
called seeing two girls, possibly in their
20s, running downhill next to Rider
Creek from where the stump was locat-
ed.
Other observations include a man “in
a floppy hat,” who arrived from an odd
location, who, after the fire broke out,
was frantically attempting to slow the
blaze with “a bucket or possibly a stick,”
the report says, even as the fire spread
up the hillside.
The evidence collected from the
scene, days later, included: a Four Loko
beer can, a Winco water bottle, a Pepsi
Cola can and a plastic bag of pineapple.
Later, a leather satchel/purse was found
in the changing room, with no way to
identify who owned it.
A long and detailed investigation
that results in two unrelated
arrests
The search for the person responsible
for causing the Terwilliger Fire lasted
more than a year.
Three of the beverage containers
found near the stump were submitted to
the Oregon State Police forensic lab in
Springfield for DNA and fingerprint
analysis, and a special agent for the For-
est Service conducted multiple inter-
views everywhere from the Blue River
Store to a homeless shelter in Eugene to
a Home Depot parking lot in Happy Val-
ley.
The investigation turned up some
enticing leads — a whodunit of suspi-
cious characters — but apparently noth-
ing that could be used to bring charges.
“No judicial action taken due to lack
of evidence,” the report says.
A pineapple and Pepsi interview, a
homeless shelter, exploding
fungus, and an inquiry
The investigation report illustrates
the difficulty of tracking down a person
responsible for a wildfire when there’s
such limited evidence.
Even when there were promising
leads — a DNA match, word of mouth
accusations or suspicious pictures —
nothing tangible appears to have ma-
terialized. Here are four leads and inter-
views from the investigation.
The Pepsi and pineapple
Two pieces of evidence found at the
scene of the fire were a Pepsi can and a
small bag of pineapple. Both of those
items were sent to the forensics lab in
Springfield. After testing, the lab re-
turned a DNA match found on the Pepsi
can.
An interview was set up with the per-
son indicated and they said they had
been at Terwilliger, in the Rider Creek
area on Aug. 5 — weeks before the fire
ignited — while they were returning
from wedding in Central Oregon. The
person said they and their girlfriend
smoked marijuana with another couple,
possibly from Salem, right next to the
creek and big stump. The person apolo-
gized for leaving behind the Pepsi can
and bag of pineapple. After the inter-
view, the person was arrested for unre-
lated warrants by the Clackamas Coun-
ty Sheriff ’s Office, but wasn’t charged in
connection with the fire.
‘What they don’t know won’t hurt
them’
On the day before the Terwilliger Fire,
a person reportedly went into the Blue
River store and asked about campfire
regulations at the hot springs. When
employees told the person campfires
weren’t allowed, the man said some-
thing like “well what they don’t know
won’t hurt them,” according to the re-
port. Surveillance photos showed the
person, their name was found from a re-
ceipt and the investigator found him on
social media along with Instagram pic-
tures that “showed him standing on a
large stump on the edge of Rider Creek,”
the report says.
After being contacted, the person
said they would not make themselves
available, stating something similar to
“I’m not comfortable meeting you” and
that he doesn’t like authority, the report
said. The person did admit to being at
the hot springs the day before the fire,
couldn’t remember if they smoked ciga-
rettes and couldn’t remember if they
smoked marijuana that day or not.
“They stayed there all day until
things started to get rowdy in the eve-
ning,” the man told the investigator.
When the investigator referenced the
Instagram photo, the person “became
uncooperative on the phone and resis-
tant to answering any more questions,”
the report said. The person called back
the following day and apologized for his
prior attitude, but added that he didn’t
have any additional information about
the Terwilliger Fire.
Accusations lead to a Eugene
homeless shelter
In another case, the investigator fol-
lowed a string of rumors about a tran-
sient who’d been suspected of causing
trouble and even starting a fire in the
town of Blue River in the summer of
2018 and “was a known scammer,” ac-
cording to the report. Multiple people
believed the person had started the Ter-
williger Fire. The investigator found the
person at a homeless shelter in Eugene,
where they denied ever visiting Terwil-
liger Hot Springs. After the interview,
the person was arrested on an outstand-
ing warrant by the Eugene Police De-
partment.
Exploding fungus?
The most unique lead came from the
original fire investigator who indicated
a person who “may have information
about a type of fungus that can sponta-
neously combust,” the report said. An
exhibit was taken, and the person was
contacted and said a friend knew about
the fungus, which was apparently
white, and that he was at the hot springs
that day. The person interviewed said
he left the hot springs before the fire and
didn’t see anything suspicious but that
he had a friend who was there and “even
helped try to extinguish the fire.” That
person was contacted but was never in-
terviewed.
Difficulty proving who it might
have been
Cross said he wasn’t surprised about
the difficulty of finding a single person
responsible. He said the stump could
have been smoldering for days before it
ignited.
“That happens quite a lot with light-
ning,” he said. “A spark can remain in a
stump for days, weeks, even months.
“This fire, it burned in 2018. But after
a whole winter of rain and snow, it re-
ignited in 2019. Those sparks can stay
active in a stump for a really long time.”
Some good comes from the
Terwilliger Fire, but hot springs
not the same
The Terwilliger Fire burned from Aug.
19 into September before becoming
mostly contained.
The fire damage led to a 10-month
closure around the hot springs and the
forest around Cougar Reservoir, after
burning 11,555 acres and costing $40
million to fight.
Cross said the fire actually did some
good, particularly in the Three Sisters
Wilderness.
“On the east side, we mostly let the
fire burn into a part of the Three Sisters
that hadn’t had fire in a long time and
really needed it,” he said. “And it did a lot
of good. It broke up the canopy, it
burned mostly on the ground with
mixed severity and we just got a lot of
those diverse impacts you want from a
natural wildfire, even though it wasn’t a
natural start.”
After the fire burned the hot springs,
a new bathroom with a modern com-
posting toilet has been added, along
with a new changing room and walk-
way.
Noble, who escaped the fire the day it
ignited, returned to Terwilliger when it
reopened.
“As we walked through the charred
remains of the forest what was pricing
was how familiar it was and yet com-
pletely different,” Noble said. “(At the
hot springs). it wasn’t as bad as I
thought it was going to be. There was
still a little bit of shrubbery and ferns.
The trees were all blackened but still
standing. Some of them still had green-
ery at the top which gave me hope. Park-
er and I both walked around looking and
feeling sort of dazed. After a soak we
went home and haven’t been back. Even
though the water still flows from the
rocks, it’s not the same. It lost a lot of its
charm and power that day and it’s kind
of heartbreaking to see it now.”
Urness is the author of “Best Hikes
with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking South-
ern Oregon.” He can be reached at zur-
ness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503)
399-6801. Find him on Twitter at
@ZachsORoutdoors.