Gusty winds help spread fast growing central Oregon wildfire and prompt evacuations
Smoke from a wildfire rises on a road near La Pine, Ore., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The fire prompted mandatory evacuations in the small town in central Oregon and was growing rapidly in hot, dry conditions. (Jim Pharris via AP)
LA PINE, Oregon (AP) — Gusty winds fueled a rapidly growing wildfire just outside the central Oregon community of La Pine and prompted evacuations Tuesday.
The fire, which began about one mile (1.6 kilometers) south of La Pine, was estimated to be nearly half a square mile (1 square kilometer) in size late Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
Gov. Tina Kotek invoked an order allowing the fire marshal to mobilize resources to help fight the blaze. A billowing plume of black and gray smoke loomed over businesses including grocery stores and strip malls.
Jodi Kerr was packing up her home decor and gifts store in La Pine so she could evacuate.
“It’s part of the risk of living in an area like this. It’s beautiful, but it’s wild,” said Kerr, the owner of Meandering Maker Mercantile.
She said it’s hard to think about the people who’ve spent years building businesses and then be concerned about losing it all overnight.
It was not immediately clear how many homes were evacuated or if any structures had been destroyed. A message seeking comment was left for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.
TV station KTVZ reported that several U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and trails had been evacuated and closed and that a temporary evacuation point was set up at the La Pine High School.
La Pine is about 192 miles (309 kilometers) south of Portland.
In Southern California, about 2,500 San Diego residents were under evacuation orders as fire crews used aircraft to attack a blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon near Torrey Pines State Beach. Authorities closed two Interstate 5 off-ramps as winds pushed flames through about 20 acres (8 hectares) of dry brush at a nature preserve and toward homes.
Firefighters working in steep, rugged terrain reached 5% containment and stopped the fire’s forward progress, officials said around 5 p.m.
Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. An evacuation center was set up at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Improved weather conditions aided firefighters as they battled a rural Northern California wildfire that destroyed two structures and threatened the community of Palermo, which is near where the state’s deadliest wildfire struck six years ago.
The fire spread over about 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometers) in the initial hours Monday evening but was static Tuesday and containment reached 15%, said Capt. Dan Collins of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
Winds subsided, marine air brought some cooling and “the conditions are favorable,” he said. The cause of the blaze — dubbed the Apache Fire — was under investigation.
The Associated Press