Philomath Fire and Rescue’s contributions to fighting wildfires around the state continued in recent days with a deployment over the weekend to the Dixon Fire near the small community of Tiller about 28 miles southeast of Roseburg in Douglas County.
Rich Saalsaa, deputy fire chief and public information officer, reported that Philomath Fire Chief Chancy Ferguson is serving in the role of task force leader as part of a group from Benton County that headed to the fire Sunday morning. The task force also includes a heavy brush truck from Philomath with volunteer Lt. Paula Anderson, volunteer firefighter Chris Leonard and resident volunteer Riece Hines.
The Dixon Fire has burned nearly 2,000 acres and as of Tuesday afternoon was 0% contained and threatening approximately 40 structures. Total personnel on the wildfire numbers 519. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
In addition to Philomath’s personnel, others that headed to the fire as part of the task force were a brush truck and water tender from the Corvallis Fire Department and brush trucks from Monroe Rural Fire and North Lincoln Fire and Rescue (Lincoln City).
Saalsaa said the crew met in Corvallis at 9 a.m. Sunday for the trip to the command post at the Milo Fire Department in Days Creek. There, they joined two other structural task forces as well as the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Green Incident Management Team.
The fire marshal’s office had sent an immediate response structural task force from Rogue Valley to the incident Saturday in anticipation of an emergency conflagration declaration by the governor’s office, which occurred later that night.
“Over the last few days, we saw several fires spark on the west side of the Cascades,” State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said. “The fire danger across Oregon is extremely concerning.”
The Dixon Fire response was Philomath Fire and Rescue’s fifth since the start of fire season.
While Ferguson is out with the task force, Saalsaa will be managing the local district.
Said Saalsaa, “Philomath will not be sending additional personnel to fires outside of Benton County at this time so that resources remain strong to deal with local emergencies.”