Residents pack as threat from Onion Mountain Fire grows

Grants Pass, Ore. –

The Onion Mountain wildfire west of Grants Pass is putting an entire neighborhood on high alert.

“Holy moly, wow!” exclaims Ann Mallery. As of Monday morning she is under a level one evacuation order. We watch together as 4 helicopters pass over her rural Grants Pass home within 5 minutes.

“Yesterday it was all black and dark out here. You couldn’t see a thing, looked like thunderclouds,” Mallery says. She watched as the Onion Mountain fire that started Saturday, went from a wisp of smoke to a raging inferno visible from her front yard. Now she’s prepping to evacuate and not taking any chances.

Just up the road from the Shan Creek Overlook, firefighters are working to get to the blaze, but getting access is an issue. According to the U.S. forest service, they are having to cut their own trails to get to the actual hot spots.

While fire fighters are busy putting in dozer lines, Mallery and her neighbors are anxiously waiting to find out what progress, if any, those firefighters are making.