Lightning-caused fires enacts lightning fast response

APPLEGATE VALLEY, Ore.– Southern Oregon got a little taste of what lighting can bring this weekend after two fires dubbed the Little Applegate Complex sparked in the Applegate Valley.

Fire crews were quick to jump on them with resources, including more than 160 personnel, sent to the fires within the first two hours. These lightning-caused fires receiving a lighting fast response.

Priscilla Weaver, a resident whose house was in between the two fires, says she was unaware that lightning had struck near her home.

“We were in Jacksonville just about to go to the Britt concert and my cell phone rang and it was a neighbor saying, ‘Where are you? You really need to get home,'” said Weaver.

Weaver says one of the lightning strikes started the Yale West Fire which burned one acre on her property. While one property was issued a Level 3 (GO) order, Weaver’s didn’t need to evacuate her home and was only listed as a Level 1 (BE READY). She says by the time she got home, crews were at both fires working to suppress flames.

“The response was phenomenal. They were watching the roads. They were directing traffic,” she said. “They were putting out the fires. They left crews here overnight. There’s still crews mopping up today. I can’t say enough about our local firefighters they were just phenomenal.”

The fires were completely mopped up by Monday afternoon but with the potential for more lighting caused fires in the forecast, residents are hopeful crews will be there in a flash.

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