Philomath Fire and Rescue invites the community to a wildfire preparedness community event at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Philomath City Park.
The event, which will last approximately one hour, will include information on how residents can prepare themselves, protect property and how to respond to emerging incidents. Organizers will also set aside time for those in attendance to ask questions.
Multiple wildfires are burning around Oregon this week, including the Cow Valley Fire northwest of Ontario, Falls Fire near Burns, Larch Creek Fire in Wasco County, Lone Rock Fire near Condon and the Salt Creek Fire near Medford.
Update on local firefighters
On Monday, Philomath Fire and Rescue’s Layne Converse, Zander Bradford and Lindsay Taylor, along with a heavy brush truck, were redeployed as part of the Benton County Task Force from the Larch Creek Fire to the Lonerock Fire in north-central Oregon.
As of Monday morning, the Lonerock Fire was 51,855 acres and covered Gilliam, Morrow and Wheeler counties.
Deputy Fire Chief Rich Saalsaa, who is part of an Oregon State Fire Marshal incident management team, will remain at the Larch Creek Fire until Tuesday afternoon.
“Our crews from Benton County worked the night shift on the Larch Creek Fire and did an exemplary job of protecting the residences as well as assisting in the mop up and containment of the fire,” Saalsaa said.
In addition to Philomath, the Benton County Task Force that headed north includes a second heavy brush truck from Monroe Rural Fire, a light brush truck from Corvallis Fire and Adair Rural Fire. Corvallis Fire is also supplying a water tender to give the task force five engines. Monroe Fire Chief Chris Barnes is serving as the task force leader.