Grass fire ignites on Hagar Ridge
Published 3:00 pm Thursday, August 20, 2020
- A helicopter prepares to drop water on a grass fire at Hagar Ridge in Umatilla County.
TOLLGATE — A fire on Hagar Ridge near Bingham Road in Umatilla County kept firefighters busy Wednesday, Aug. 19. and into the morning of Aug. 20.
The fire was first reported at 12:44 p.m. Aug. 19.
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue spokesperson Susie Reitz said firefighters from her department just got back from the fire this morning, and operations were now being handled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
BIA officials were being briefed on the fire and said they would provide update this morning.
Reitz said it’s certainly possible the fire was caused by a lightning strike, although the official cause is not yet determined.
An estimation of size was not Aug. 20, but no structures appeared to be threatened.
The fire was mostly burning through grass and brush. Helicopters were called in to drop water, which lasted into the evening of Aug. 19.
U.S. Forest Service personnel and tribal fire departments also responded to the blaze.
