Multiple agencies battled a six-acre natural cover fire Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 7, on Brewster Road near the Grant Street bridge in east Lebanon.

The blaze was reported at 3:30 p.m. and included six acres of mixed grass, brush, and trees as well as homeless encampments along the South Santiam River.

According to the Lebanon Fire District, the incident commander, upon arriving at the scene, struck a second-alarm request for additional support. The Oregon Department of Forestry responded with a bulldozer to begin containment lines, and firefighters worked around its perimeter with hose lines and hand tools. A Mark-3 fire pumper was set up west of the fire, drawing water from the river while additional crews used hose lines from brush vehicles.

Three hours later, the fire was considered contained, and operations began mopping up. One person was transported to Santiam Lebanon Community Hospital with minor smoke inhalation injuries.

The Lebanon Fire District responded with three staff vehicles, one engine with four personnel, one pumper tender with three personnel, one water tender with one personnel, one rehab unit with two personnel and three volunteers in private vehicles.

They were assisted by vehicles, personnel and equipment from the Albany, Sweet Home and Scio departments. The Brownsville and Sweet Home districts covered calls in the city during the incident. The Lebanon Police Department, Linn County Sheriff’s Office and Linn County Roads Department provided traffic and area control.

The scene remained active at the scene Thursday, with two brush rigs, a water tender, a fire engine and hand crew completing mop-up operations.

Following an investigation, interim Fire Marshal Ken Foster said they’ve been able to locate the area of origin, but are unable to determine the exact cause.

“The area of origin was near one of the tent sites that are down there closest to the river,” Foster said. “Basically there’s no power and there’s no other sources of ignition down there.”

The cause could potentially have been from a warming or cooking fire, or a cigarette, “but we were unable to put together the item first ignited and the ignition source because we were unable to locate it,” he said.

P.O. Box 39 Sweet Home, OR 97386 Ph: (541) 367-2135 news@sweethomenews.com

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