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8/4/2024
Washington County, OR. – Official Release: At 12:48am on Saturday August 3rd, Cornelius Fire Department was dispatched to a reported RV fire at a property on SW Golf Course Road. While crews were responding, information gathered by dispatchers stated that the fire had began to spread to a nearby structure. At that time, the incident response was upgraded from a vehicle fire to a barn fire. When the first arriving fire engine arrived, they found an RV fully engulfed in flames as well as fire spreading to two nearby outbuildings. Firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, but encountered difficulties such as downed energized power lines as well as being in a rural setting with no nearby fire hydrants. Because of no readily available fire hydrants, firefighters had to bring water to the scene with water tenders. Water tenders are a fire vehicle that carry 3,000 gallons of water in their tanks and are highly utilized in rural fire settings. Once enough water tenders were on scene to provide enough water, firefighters were able to adequately extinguish the fire in the RV, buildings, nearby equipment and a large wood pile.
In the middle of firefighters working to extinguish the fires in the structure, it was discovered that a portion of a nearby field had caught fire by flying embers from the barn. This area known as a spot fire, was approximately 500ft away from the main fire. At that time, incident command asked for four wheel drive wild land fire units (Brush Rigs) to respond to help with extinguishing the field fire. In total, the incident had the equivalent of Three Alarms worth of equipment on scene.
It took firefighters approximately one hour and forty minutes after arrival to deem the incident under control. Two buildings, several pieces of equipment are considered a total loss. One of the buildings that burned was approximately 120 years old and contained the original blacksmith forge for the family that settled on the property in 1877. While a sad loss for the family which is a descendant of the original settlers, we are thankful no one was injured. The spot fire in the field burned approximately a quarter of an acre of dried crimson clover. At the time of release, crews are still on scene putting out hot spots with the assistance from an excavator provided by the property owner. The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time.
Cornelius Fire Department was assisted on scene by Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Gaston Fire District, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Banks Fire District, Yamhill Fire District, WCCCA, Washington County Sheriffs Office and AMR-Washington County.
Scene Information:
Engines – 7
Water Tenders – 9
Brush Rigs – 3
Rehab Unit – 1
Chiefs – 5
Total Fire Personnel – 55
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