UPDATE: Farmers, Firefighters appear to have contained Fire east of TD
Tractors with disc plows created a fireline around the Wrentham Fire on Tuesday, June 29th.
By Tom Peterson
The efforts of farmers, firefighters and air support appear to have contained the Wrentham Fire southeast of The Dalles.
“Everything held through the night,” said Cynthia Kortge this morning, June 30 at 10 a.m. who was on the fire. “We were up until 4 a.m. We were able to get it stopped near Hastings Road and Summit Ridge.”
Cynthia Kortge Photo by MCMC
Two Fire Boss planes attacked the Jameson Canyon areas of the fire until 8 p.m. last night. Then some 80 plus farmers working with Dufur and Dallesport Fire worked the blaze into the wee hours of the morning.
Farmers also used six tractors and disc plows to till the soil and create a fire break around the blaze. There was also a bulldozer brought in by the Clausen family and Sherman County Farmers pitched in with water trucks.
This morning, Kortge said many farmers have gone back to work as fire crews are remaining on-site to watch for hotspots or flare-ups. Kortge said the temperature was around 74 degrees and the wind was blowing 8 to 10 mph this morning - a far cry from the hellacious gusts that sent a wildfire from Highway 197 in The Dalles to Grass Valley in three hours back in 2018.
That blaze still sits firmly in the minds of local farmers as a warning to act quickly and safely.
The Wrentham Fire ignited around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29, at 6412 Wrentham Market Road, said Kortge, noting it appears to have been started by a blown or shorted transformer on an electrical pole.
Jake Kortge lives at the site.
Thankfully the wind was blowing out of the northeast, towards a mostly unpopulated area, Kortge said. “If it would have been blowing out of the west it would have burned Jake’s house.”
Chris and Paul Schanno did lose one barn in the fire, the only structure loss, she said.
“There was no way to get through 120 heat without this fire,” Kortge said. “We were just holding our breath waiting for it.”
Kortge estimated that all told, between 800 and 1000 acres of wheat burned in the fire, not including pasture land.
Domino’s Pizza fed the crew with donated pies as Amy Sugg delivered them to the hungry firefighters.
Kortge said the blaze came just as the harvest of soft white wheat was beginning as temperatures and just five inches of rain since September have hastened its maturity.
“Thank you to all of our farmers and crews and getting to it quick,” she said. “They drop everything at a moment’s notice to help out on fires like this. It's amazing to witness.”
Click here to see June 29ths’ fire update.
