WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — The National Weather Service issued Red Flag Warnings for much of east and central Oregon this weekend. Because of those threats — including low humidity and a higher chance for thunderstorms unaccompanied by rain — crews from the Willamette Valley traveled to Jefferson County to provide backup for 72 hours.
Friday morning in Wilsonville, more than a dozen firefighters loaded up their gear and headed east.
"The perfect scenario? We have a safe drive to central Oregon. We set up there for 72 hours and we have a safe drive home, and we don't have to do any fire suppression. That would be the ideal situation," said Task Force Leader Patrick Wineman.
However, he knows there's a high chance that they'll be needed to tackle emerging wildfires.
"Unfortunately, it's becoming much more of a norm for us," he said. "We were seeing deployment every two, or three or four years historically, and now we are seeing multiple deployments inside of the same year. It's definitely getting worse."
"These folks are not only coming to help central Oregon, right, they'll go to all the fires. But 25 extra bodies when we have new fires, that's a big deal," said Alison Green, a public affairs officer for the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office.
Green explained that pre-positioning crews during the Red Flag Warning helps the entire central and eastern Oregon region. Crews can get to any fire that may spark faster and with more manpower.
"They are not there for a specific incident, but there to really help with that initial attack activity," Green said. "Being able to have a full bench, a deeper bench, when we know that there are conditions to support rapid fire growth ... it makes all the difference in the world."
Wineman said they've learned from the 2020 wildfire events that it doesn't take much for fires to have explosive growth.
"Being able to hit those while they are small, and keep them small, then we don't have to have those big fires that you see on the news during the summertime," he said. "We are going to keep them tiny."
Although areas like Portland and the Willamette Valley aren't under a Red Flag Warning, fire officials said that doesn't mean anyone should let their guard down this weekend. The key will be stopping human-caused fires in their tracks, so they can devote resources to possible fires due to lightning.
"This is where we are really asking folks - lightning is going to do what it is going to do. But what we can control is the human-caused starts," Green said.
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