Medford Fire Department responds to fire along Bear Creek Greenway

MEDFORD, Ore. – The Medford Fire Department responded to a vegetation fire along the Bear Creek Greenway Sunday.

Medford Fire said at around 1:00 p.m., crews responded to a report of a vegetation fire on the greenway in the area of the Charles Point Apartments in south Medford.

Firefighters said they had trouble locating the fire at first, sending units to both sides of the creek before finally locating the fire in some thick brush.

Crews said they saw the flames reach as high as 15 feet in the air, but the fire was slow-moving and only took minutes to extinguish.

Officials said the cause of the fire is under investigation but it’s possible that it was an unattended campfire.

“We discourage camping in the Greenway when it’s fire season it’s extremely dangerous for everybody, and this is a prime area for another Almeda-type incident,” said A.I.C. Captain Lars Borosund.

Borosund said they stopped the fire at about a tenth of an acre.

He said they went through eight-foot-tall blackberries to get to the fire. If it was later in the year, things could have been a lot more dangerous for the crew.