Oregon fire crews ‘happy to return favor' to North Carolina
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon is no stranger to wildfires. And Oregon is also no stranger to helping out other states when they need help battling their wildfires.
three of the eight reported fires in North Carolina, including the two largest, Black Cove and Deep Woods, each around 35% containment.
'In the week we had two days of red flag warnings, which is obviously very problematic, you know, for dry fuels and gusty winds. However, those are gone,' said Neal Bond, a protection unit forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry. 'They are predicting, you know, rain to come in on (Sunday) and Monday. You know, we're hopeful that'll pan out. but then again, we got to make sure we get rain on the entire part of the fire.'
KOIN 6 News' downed power lines are the cause for the Black Cover and Deep Woods fires.
Kotek declares flood emergency for Southeast Oregon
'Some of the things that's really causing problems out here is we had Hurricane Helene come through last September. So that put a lot of trees down on the ground, which create a lot of jackpots of fuel,' Bond said. 'They've had all this time to dry out. And so the fire will kind of creep around, and then it will hit one of those jackpots and really start to flare up.'
The ODF crews, 38 firefighters in all. deployed about a week ago and are ready to stay as long as needed.
It's a return favor. Last summer dozens of North Carolina firefighters worked side-by-side in Oregon battling the 2024 wildfires that burned nearly 2 million acres.
'We're happy to return the favor here to North Carolina,' Bond said.
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