Fire Crews stop blaze at edge of weston

Fire chief "knocked on doors like crazy" during evacuation

This breaking news story originally appeared in the East Oregonian in July 2018. Click here to see it.

By Brittany Norton

Firefighters from multiple agencies contained a fire Thursday afternoon that burned right up to back yards in Weston. 

The fire scorched a large swath of land southeast of town, including an unharvested wheat field, but did not destroy any homes. 

Tom Roberts, Umatilla County emergency manager, said the blaze prompted a level 3 evacuation for residents on Hill and State streets, meaning they had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Several people took up garden hoses to try to create a buffer between their homes and the fire.

Weston resident Melanie Hearn said she was at a doctor’s appointment in Walla Walla when she started getting phone calls from family members who expressed concern about her house. She said her daughter, who no longer lives with her, got a call about the fire around 2 p.m. and traveled to her house to water down the back yard. Hearn’s home was one of several the blaze nearly affected with the charred field coming right up to her fence line. 

“It’s kind of a wake-up call,” said Hearn, who started worrying about the insurance on her possessions. 

Hearn said her family has seen fires from their back yard in the past, but nothing this close.

“Every year it’s kind of worrisome,” she said.

Raeana Mikel was babysitting at her sister’s home overlooking the town from the top of West Mill Street. She said gloom come over the town and she went outside to investigate.

“There was just smoke everywhere,” she said.

She said she watched as fire engines and other emergency vehicles swarmed the town.

The East Umatilla County Rural Fire Protection District led the effort to control the fire and received helped from fire agencies out of Pendleton, the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pilot Rock, and more, plus scene security from the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office. Roberts said the diverse group engaged in a coordinated effort that kept the flames from engulfing homes. He said one woman who lived in the area needed medical attention for possible lack of oxygen, but otherwise there were no other injuries he knew about.

“This was a fantastic save,” Roberts said.

Duane Thul, city councilor and former mayor, was helping to keep emergency traffic flowing at Main and Hill streets, where emergency responders amassed. Thul said the thick smoke limited visibility to 30 feet. His worse nightmare as mayor, he said, was this kind of fire but with high winds. That nightmare could have become reality Thursday with 30 mph winds, he said.

East Umatilla Fire Chief Dave Baty was the incident commander and arrived to the fire early.

“I was knocking on doors like crazy to get people out,” Baty said.

Baty relayed information and gave orders at the scene well after crews contained the blaze. He said he had not even had time to consider what started the fire.