McKenzie Archives - Wildfire Today

New fire station in Blue River, Oregon

The little community of Blue River, upstream in the McKenzie River valley from Eugene, Oregon, has a brand-new fire station up and running — almost four years after the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020 burned their station to the ground.

Station 2 in Blue River is part of the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District, featured in another of a series of stellar reports on KEZI by Noah Chavez. Christiana Rainbow Plews, the well-known and well-loved fire chief called “Chief Rainbow” by the locals, worked with the district both before and after the Holiday Farm Fire. She decided to retire as the chief, but only after the new fire station was fully operational.

She says the new station compared with the old one is just the difference between night and day. “It’s bigger and the building we had prior to the fire was really just a garage to house the trucks and equipment. It was not like a fire station,” she said. “It was really just a storage building, and the fact that we were able to build something as beautiful as this building with a day room and a kitchen and a chief’s office is just super exciting.”

Taylor Wickizer is one of the newest volunteers at Station 2. Born in Blue River, she and her family moved to Iowa, but Taylor returned after the Holiday Farm Fire. She said everyone in her family felt like they needed to come back to help the community and she has since become devoted to being a firefighter for the district — because of what the community has been through together, they are more than just neighbors.

“Up here it is not even like a community, it is like a family — I mean everybody is here for the people and especially the fire and emergency services,” she said.

Station 2 in Blue River is part of the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District, featured in another of a series of stellar reports on KEZI by Noah Chavez.

Oregon Rx fire gets away east of Eugene

Firefighters are working on a wildfire that took off when sudden wind gusts fanned a prescribed burn that was considered contained, the U.S. Forest Service reported late Tuesday night. KEZI-TV reported that a prescribed burn was under way near the community of McKenzie Bridge, upstream from Eugene, Oregon, on the McKenzie River, on May 30. Though the prescribed burn was started when weather was within planned parameters, gusty winds started two spot fires near the 65-acre burn area.

The USFS officially declared the escaped burn a wildfire — called the W-470 Fire — and said that as of the morning of May 31 the total burn area was about 120 acres.

Fire crews went out on the night of May 30 to try to contain the fire. The USFS said 34 firefighters worked overnight according to pre-existing contingency plans, and more resources were on the way.

KLCC radio reported that unexpected gusty winds pushed the burn outside the prescribed area. The fire is about two miles northeast of the McKenzie River ranger station in eastern Lane County.

The Willamette National Forest reported that the burn was planned to reduce fuels in a thinned stand, but the escaped fire burned onto National Forest land outside of the burn unit’s perimeter. The burn area is north of Highway 126 where FS Roads 26-204 and 26-206 split near Frissell Trail.

Cooler temperatures are moderating fire activity. “Our highest priority is to suppress fire in the area adjacent to the burn unit,” said Dave Warnack, Willamette Forest Supervisor. Residents of the area who remember the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire are expressing frustration with the USFS for allowing the prescribed burn to escape.

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