PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 23, 2021
KFD lends a hand at Bootleg Fire
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After enduring one of the worst fi re
seasons in state history last summer,
Keizer Fire District (KFD) has already
provided assistance with several intense
wildfi res that have occurred throughout
Oregon.
“It has been busy. We have needed to
fi ll in for a lot of guys. But we are used
to it by now,” said Brian Butler, KFD's
Division Chief of Operations.
When the Bootleg Fire in Southern
Oregon started on Tuesday, July 6, KFD
Division Chief Ryan Russell was selected
Fire crews from Marion County, formed into Task Force 16, were re-
lieved Saturday, July 17, from service on the Bootleg Fire. Submitted photo
as the lead of Task Force 16 for Marion
County — which took fi ve, three-person
fi re trucks from Marion County Fire
District #1 (MCFD1) Jeff erson Fire, Mt.
Angel Fire, Silverton Fire, and Idana-
Detroit Fire to the scene near Klamath
Falls.
The destructive Bootleg Fire has gar-
nered national attention over the last two
weeks as the nation's largest wildfi re,
burning over 500 square miles of forest
and grasslands — one of the largest in
state history.
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They are working
incredibly hard,
doing shifts
from 5 a.m.
until 10 p.m.
The
ongoing
drought and recent
heatwave has likely
played a large role
in the intensity of
the Bootleg Fire
— which had
grown so big and
hot that is began
to aff ect winds
KFD Division Chief of Operations
and disrupt the
atmosphere.
“The fi re is so
large and generating so much energy is predicting what the weather will do.”
and extreme heat that it’s changing
Gov. Kate Brown, in a press conference
the weather,” said Marcus Kauff man, a regarding the wildfi res around the state,
spokesman for the state forestry depart- said that “what is very clear is that no
ment. “Normally the weather predicts
See BOOTLEG, page A15
what the fi re will do. In this case, the fi re
— BRIAN BUTLER