Wednesday,July7,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
3
Child drowns in
Columbia River
The Valley View fire runs to the southwest from where it ignited on Valley View Drive, located to the right of the photograph. Below, a
home on Highway 197 is surrounded by smoke and burnt ground on the east side of the fire, just south of The Dalles.
Mark B. Gibson photos
FIRE
Wildland fires
burn in the Gorge
Police, Hood River Police
Department, Washington
Department of Fish and
Wildlife, Local Fire and EMS
crews and the Skamania
County Sheriff’s Office. The
child’s body was recovered
at approximately 5:15 p.m. in
about 10 feet of water by the
Skamania County Dive Team.
The Sheriff’s Office
reminds people recreating
in waterways to please be
vigilant about safety this
summer and use personal
flotation devices. Incidents of
this nature happen extreme-
ly fast and from seemingly
safe waterways, said a press
release.
Campfire ban
goes into effect
Continued from page 1
doing is working. We were
able to better protect proper-
ties with their assistance and
support.”
The fire, which was
burning in mostly brush and
wheat, was first reported
around 3:45 p.m. on the 3100
block of Valley View Drive
near The Dalles. Strong winds
pushed the fire in a southeast
direction, forcing evacuations
and road closures.
Firefighters were able to
protect the homes in the
area and no injuries were
reported.
Mid-Columbia Fire and
Rescue was the lead agency
for the response. The Oregon
State Fire Marshal temporari-
ly reassigned task forces from
the Wrentham Market Fire
while coordinating air attack
from Oregon Department of
Forestry resources.
This decision, along with
mutual aid from neighboring
fire districts, was critical in
stopping the rapidly advanc-
ing fire, according to the
Oregon Fire Marshall’s office.
Parts of Highway 197 south
of The Dalles were temporari-
ly closed Thursday evening.
In all, more than 100
firefighters were part of the
initial attack. Responding
agencies included Mid-
Columbia Fire, Dallesport
Fire, Dufur Fire, Mosier Fire,
taskforces from Multnomah,
Washington, Yamhill, and
Hood River, Bureau of Land
Management, and the U.S.
Forest Service.
The Dalles Police, Wasco
County Sheriff, Oregon
State Police, and Oregon
Department of Oregon
Transport also assisted on
scene.
On Saturday, July 3, the
state fully returned man-
agement of the fire to local
control.
Taskforces from Marion,
Yamhill, Multnomah and
Linn Counties assisted in the
initial attack and in mopping
up hot spots, monitoring the
perimeter of the fire, and ex-
panding the defensible space
around homes.
The Wasco County Sheriff’s
Office issued several evacua-
tions due to the fast-moving
flames. County residents
can sign up to receive future
emergency notifications
through the county.
The fire was originally
mislabeled as the Sunnyside
Valley Fire.
HOOD RIVER — On
Wednesday, June 30, just
after 2 p.m. the Hood River
County Sheriff’s Office
responded to a report of a
child missing in the water
on the Columbia River at
Nichols Boat Basin in Hood
River. A 10-year-old girl
from Portland fell out of an
inflatable raft that she was
riding in with another family
acquaintance. She was not
wearing a personal flotation
device at the time.
A search was conducted
by the sheriff’s office with as-
sistance from the Columbia
River Intertribal Fisheries
Enforcement, Oregon State
Mt. Hood National Forest, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
and forest service lands in the Columbia River Gorge National
Scenic Area are impacted by a campfire ban now in effect.
All campfires, charcoal or briquette fires, pellet fires or
any other open fires are now prohibited in all U.S. National
Forest lands, including in developed campgrounds. Portable
cooking stoves, lanterns and heating devices using liquefied
or bottled fuel, such as propane, are still allowed as they can
be instantly switched off. Additionally, target shooting is tem-
porarily prohibited because of the risk of wildfire.
Restrictions were set in place July 1 on the Columbia River
Gorge National Scenic Area and July 2 on both the Gifford
Pinchot and Mt. Hood National Forests.
Early drought conditions have been impacted by extreme
heat. Even after temperatures drop a bit, forecasted dry sum-
mer conditions will continue to increase the risk of wildfire.
With the current dry, hot conditions any wildfire start poses
a greater threat to firefighter safety, public safety and personal
property.
“We are seeing conditions that are more common to
August,” said Dirk Shupe, fire management staff foficer for the
Gifford Pinchot and Mt. Hood National Forests.
order is in place for residenc-
es near the Highway 197/97
intersection. The Rattlesnake
Fire is not part of the S-503
reservation fire. Crews
working the S-503 fire were
diverted to the Rattlesnake
Fire, and performed the
initial attack.
As of July 4, the fire had
consumed 5,479 acres and
was 90% contained.
Wrentham Market Fire
Even as the Wasco County
Board of Commissioners
declared a “local state of
emergency” June 30 in
response to extreme heat —
and banned fireworks in the
county through July 14 — a
brush and grass fire ignited
the day before in the Dufur
area, south of The Dalles, was
reported to have grown to
10,000 acres in its first day.
The fire was declared a
“conflagration” Wednesday
morning, prior to the emer-
gency meeting, which trans-
fered management of the fire
to the state via the Oregon
Fire Marshall’s office.
Stefan Myers with the
Oregon Fire Marshall’s
office said the 3 task forces
were coming from Yamhill,
Multnomah and Washington
counties and would provide
ground and air attack as well
as structure protection. He
said 20 homes were threat-
ened by the fire, which was
being driven toward the
Deschutes River.
“It’s not contained but they
have some good fire lines dug
in,” he said of the overnight
work by local fire crews. He
added that a barn had been
lost overnight, but local crews
had saved a home that was in
“immediate threat.”
Three aircraft have been
assigned to the fire, Myers
added.
Sheriff Magill said the fire
was held at Center Ridge
Road overnight by local fire
Rattlesnake Fire
crews, but deep canyon fires
and spot fires ahead of the
According to a June 30
fire were making contain-
post on the Wasco County
Sheriff’s Facebook page, a
ment a challenge.
new fire near South Junction
“This is like the Substation
area, called Rattlesnake Fire, Fire, with dry conditions and
is burning towards Highway high winds anticipated,” he
197 and Jefferson County.
said. The 2018 Substation Fire
The fire is burning near the
was ignited in The Dalles and
intersection of highways 197 rapidly burned south clear
and 97, south of Maupin. A
into to Sherman County,
Level 2 Get Ready evacuation burning four homes and four
A Fire Boss aircraft drops a load of water on the Valley View Fire
above Benson Road, southweast of The Dalles. Below, a farmer
plows a firebreak along Highway 197. The fire jumped the freeway
near Five Mile Creek, but did not travel far beyond the freeway.
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secondary structures, killing
one resident and blackening
79,121 acres, many of them
planted in wheat and ready
for harvest.
Magill told the board three
task forces en route that in-
clude overhead and incident
command teams, and they
will be fully operational very
soon. He noted the teams
responding including some
of those who worked the
Substation Fire.
“That’s an additional
100, 150 resources,” Magill
said, which should allow a
significant ground attack on
the fire.
On July 2, the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM)
joined the Oregon State Fire
Marshal (OSFM) in Unified
Command of the fire.
“We’re really happy to
have our partners at BLM
joining us in supporting this
community and taking care
of business to contain this
fire,” said Ian Yocum, OSFM
incident commander. “The
Unified Command structure
allows agencies to better
utilize expertise and position
resources, and ultimate-
ly follow through on our
mission of protecting life and
property.”
BLM has activated two
20-person hand crews. They
will arrive Thursday and will
focus on areas with high
concentrations of fuel and
mopping up hot spots.
As of July 4, the fire had
burned 7,222 acres and was
100% contained.
S-503 Fire
A Type-3 fire management
organization lead by Incident
Commander (IC) Travis
Moyer was in command of
the S-503 Fire. The S-503
Fire is located in timber and
grasses on the Confederated
Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation and privately
owned in-holdings protected
by the Oregon Department
of Forestry. This fire is being
managed as a full suppres-
sion fire.
As of July 4, the fire had
burned 6,822 acres and was
98% contained.
Lost or stolen dog
Great Pyranese Dog was taken from us by a
neighbor. Peter is a 6 mo old herd dog who
was given away or sold to a Lady in The Dalles
area. This person is unknown to us and the
neighbor will not give us any info. We heard
her mention that her address was on Skyline
Rd. Which turned out to be a phoney address.
Please call J.J. at home # 541-323-1773 or
my cell 541-279-9538
Nice reward for the return of our lovely pet.
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