By Patrick O’Neill
The Oregonian (Oregon)
Copyright 2006 The Oregonian
All Rights Reserved
Heavy-lift helicopters dropped red fire retardant Monday between a wildfire threatening the historic Cloud Cap Inn and homes at Cooper Spur resort on Mount Hood.
The aim was to “paint the area red — the color of the chemical retardant — in advance of expected higher winds,” said Peter Frenzen, spokesman with the Northwest Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team, which is coordinating the effort.
“It appears, so far, that we’ve been able to hold the fire in check,” he said. “Most of that is due to the heavy-lift helicopters.”
The fire was about 3 1/2 miles from the Cooper Spur area. If the fire moves to within two miles of the area, officials plan to notify residents to prepare for evacuation.
The fire is one of about 13 lightning-caused fires in the Mount Hood area that have consumed 660 acres. Two major blazes burning near each other, the Bluegrass and the Gumjuwac fires, are the focus of much of the firefighting work.
The Bluegrass fire, which threatens Cooper Spur and is 10 percent contained, is burning on steep and rocky ground, hindering crews because of the possibility of falling snags and rolling debris, officials said.
Another fire on Mount Hood, about 25 miles southeast of Molalla, has grown to 200 acres, burning timber, litter and dead branches in rugged terrain. It began as a lightning strike Monday and is about 5 percent contained.
Despite the fires, air quality in Oregon remains mostly good. The only exception was at Government Camp, where the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality reported that smoke from the fires made conditions “moderate.”
Air quality in Bend was good Monday afternoon, said Thane Jennings, senior environmental engineer for eastern region of DEQ.
“Off and on it’s been smoky,” he said. “That depends on the wind direction and the amount of acreage burning and the time of day. It can change in the space of an hour.”