People near Winlock evacuate as fire pushes further into Wheeler County
Firefighters with the Marion County Fire Brigade gave water to cattle that were cutoff from water troughs near Lava Butte Road in Wheeler County.
SPRAY, OR (JULY 19, 2024, 7:28 AM) - The Lonerock Fire continued to grow and remained unpredictable, as continually shifting winds hampered efforts to extinguish the blaze, which is now at 83,922 acres as of 7:28 AM on July 19.
There have been reports of dozens of people evacuating in Wheeler County near Winlock and Kahler Basin - and many others who evacuated from Spray on Wednesday night.
The good news is that the National Interagency Fire Center has increased containment of the fire to 40%.
Fire activity increased Thursday afternoon into the night, as the Lonerock Fire moved to the south approximately 3 miles, according to NW Team 2 Operations Section Chief Dan Trapanese, with the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office.
Several people in Spray evacuated on Wednesday after receiving the Level 3 "Go Now" Order from the Wheeler Co. Sheriff's Office. Locals are upset and say that poor communication and mixed messages created unsafe conditions.
The Wheeler Co. Sheriff's Office told Spray residents to evacuate, with a message on Facebook reading "Evacuate immediately from SPRAY, OR - ESCAPE towards FOSSIL!"
The Times-Journal spoke with several people who left Spray after the alert.
Undersheriff Mitch Elliott is the Sheriff's Department Emergency Manager, and was in Spray on Wednesday, telling people it was time to evacuate, several residents said.
However, the ARC map of the fire and the Evacuation Plan clearly show that Spray remained at Level 2, highlighted in yellow instead of red.
According to local residents, Spray Fire Chief Steven Cossitt assured townspeople that the Level 2 "Get Ready" Order was still in place.
After several hours, the Wheeler Co. Sheriff's Office said on Facebook that the evacuation order was given "due to rapid and unpredictable fire behavior," from the Lonerock Fire and that "after careful consideration and monitoring of the situation, the evacuation notice for the City of Spray is being downgraded to Level 2."
Just north of Spray, and approximately 15 miles east of Fossil, the fire has burned hot. The rapidly moving fire has threatened several homes and new developments near Winlock Road and Kahler Basin. Local law enforcement, volunteers, and firefighters worked to extinguish fires near several homes.
And while the fire has created sadness and panic, there have been moments of joy and happiness.
On Thursday, a Marion County structural task force with the Oregon State Fire Marshal Office was working the southeast portion of the fire. There,, near Lava Butte Road. The firefighters replenished water in troughs before moving back to their operations.
Reader Comments(1)
Gram4379 writes:
I have appreciated the hard work exemplified by all the emergency management team. Their devotion to the local residents has been shown again and again whether handling sensitive issues or being willing to make hard decisions. The implied criticism of Sheriff candidate Mitch Elliott is likely someone who has never served unselfishly or has another political candidate in mind as the position of Emergency Management Lead is difficult and time consuming and in this case maybe thankless.
07/19/2024, 5:14 pm