Firefighters from the Oregon Department of Forestry will extinguish two wildfires caused by lightning strikes on Sunday, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said in a late morning update.

The plan for Sunday is to cut down up to three trees with fires burning high above and hike to one of the fires with a portable pump and draw water from a nearby stream.

“They will do this while minimizing impacts to the creek and drinking water for Forest Grove,” FGF&R said. The fires are raging in the Clear Creek Watershed, which is owned by the city of Forest Grove. Some Gales Creek residents are also served by the city’s municipal water supply. “This includes containing fuel leaks from the pump and not using foam during cleanup operations,” the fire department said.

Each fire is supported by a 10-person hand crew made up of inmates from the South Fork Forest Camp in the Tillamook Forest. FGF&R noted that the fires were fought by ODF teams and that Forest Grove Fire & Rescue’s role was to support the state agency with resources.

“All credit goes to the ODF teams and we thank them for protecting a vital Forest Grove resource,” said the local fire department. The area where the fires are raging is within the ODF fire protection area.

No new fires were reported as of 9am Sunday morning. ODF teams are patrolling the area and checking any location that was struck by lightning again on Saturday night.

Saturday

The emergency services left the two fires at 5 p.m. on Saturday when a new thunderstorm approached.

The first fire was already completely extinguished, while the second fire was 90% extinguished by the time firefighters left. Just 150 yards from a road, the first fire, an eighth of an acre in size, required two fire engines and a hand crew from the Oregon Department of Forestry to respond, FGF&R said.

While exploring the area, ODF firefighters noticed smoke rising from another part of the forest.

“We flew over the area with our drone and determined the GPS coordinates of the second fire,” said FGF&R.

Because access to the second fire was difficult, ODF teams had to reach the fire site on foot, about 1,200 meters down a ravine and then back up a hill.

“Running such a long length of hose from an engine would have taken hours,” said FGF&R.

A new thunderstorm was quickly approaching, a hand crew moved out, covered 90% of the 4.3 hectare fire and withdrew again.

Chas Hundley is editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister publications Banks Post and Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.