Pendleton firefighters OK after July 23 blaze

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, July 24, 2025

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A charred car sits empty July 24, 2025, after a fire burned through a tow yard the previous day in Pendleton. (Berit Thorson/East Oregonian)

State fire marshal is investigating the origin and cause of the fire

PENDLETON — The sky was clear of smoke but debris and burnt grass littered the ground the morning after a fire ravaged the lot behind NAPA Auto Parts in Pendleton.

Firefighters left the scene of the fire — which started around 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, July 23 — at 2:13 a.m. July 24, according to Pendleton Fire Chief Tony Pierotti. The team started putting out the remaining hotspots at about 7:30 p.m. July 23 and were doing that until they left the following morning.

 

 

During the response, a downed power line on a fence shocked two firefighters who took an ambulance ride to St. Anthony Hospital for evaluation. A third firefighter suffered a heat-related injury and received treatment at the scene.

The three firefighters are all fine now, Pierotti said, adding the two who went to the emergency room were “released last night in good health.”

According to the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s cause and origin investigator July 24, “everything is still under investigation at this particular moment (and) we do not have a cause or origin.”

However, people are speculating it might be human-caused.

Joe Merritt, owns Frankie’s Towing, a Pendleton-based company that keeps vehicles on the lot. He said there are often individuals who walk through the yard who he has to ask to leave.

“They hide behind that house and in those sheds that belong to that house,” he said. “We run them out of here every day or every other day.”

Merritt also said the fire started on the property next to the tow yard and moved into the yard because of weeds catching fire. Numerous vehicles and at least two structures in the yard burned.

“All the witnesses said it was a small fire right at the corner of the building in the grass and it took off,” Merritt said.

The Pendleton Police Department is working alongside the fire department and the fire marshal’s office for the investigation. Police Chief Chuck Byram said although they assume at this time the fire was initially human made, the cause is  under investigation.

“We don’t have anything definitive,” he said.

At the time, Byram said there “were no other issues around that property” and no one was interacting with the vehicles there.

“I would caution people against rumors because those are just exactly that,” he said. “We don’t deal in rumors. We deal in substantiated facts, but we are interested in what people have to say. If they do have information, we would like to hear about it.”

During the fire, 13 units from five fire districts responded. Pierotti said anything beyond three units requires assistance through mutual aid.

For the July 23 fire, units came from the Pilot Rock Rural Fire Protection District, Umatilla Tribal Fire Department, Echo Rural Fire Protection District and Umatilla County Fire District No. 1.

“We have a great thing going here in Eastern Oregon with the relationships we have with neighboring fire districts,” Pierotti said, “and the only way we’re able to handle incidents like this is because of the relationships we have with surrounding districts.”

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