Firefighters contain blaze NE of Madras that burned 126 acres; Level 1 GET READY evacuation notice lifted
Barney Lerten
MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) — A new fire reported late Friday morning burned in grass, brush and juniper about six miles northeast of Madras. It covered about 126 acres by mid-afternoon, prompting a Level 1 GET READY evacuation notice in the area for a time.
Around 1 p.m., the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office issued the Level 1 GET READY alert for people in Zone SW 14, near SW Wood Street. The alert was lifted around 2 p.m., and the sheriff’s office said no evacuation levels were in place in the county.
The Emerson Fire, fully contained by Friday evening, was reported shortly before noon east of Emerson Drive, about five miles northeast of a grass fire late Thursday afternoon that prompted Level 3 GO NOW evacuations for a time, and which officials said was caused when a property owner’s mower struck a rock.
The sheriff’s office said in its initial report Friday, “Teams are also responding to the smoke near Fern Ln. There are no evacuation levels at this time. If anything changes, we will send out messages through the Frontier Everbridge Alert System as well as update Facebook.”
Watch Duty quoted incident commanders around 1:20 p.m., saying: “The fire is approximately 150 acres and mostly tied in by roads. Good progress is being made, just closing up the extra areas.” Forward progress was reported stopped about an hour later.
Here’s a fact sheet on the Emerson Fire, issued by Central Oregon fire officials at 12:43 p.m. and updated around 2 p.m.:
Start Date/Time: June 13, 11:34 AM
Location: approx. 6 miles NE of Madras
Jurisdiction: Crooked River National Grassland
Fire Size: approx. 50 acres (updated at 2:01 p.m. to 150 acres, around 2:44 p.m. to 126 acres)
Cause: under investigation
Fuels: Grass, brush, juniper
Structures/Evacuations:
Containment: 0%
Fire Crews/Resources: Interagency fire crews are suppressing the new wildfire start with the following resources: 6 engines, 2 large air tankers, 1 helicopter, 1 air attacks as well as 2 engines from the Ashwood-Antelope RFPA.
KTVZ News will keep you updated on KTVZ.COM and KTVZ News reports Friday evening, with livestreams as warranted on the KTVZ+ app.