ASHLAND, Ore.- A 13-acre wildfire in Ashland sends fire crews from across the Rogue Valley scrambling.
According to Jackson County Fire District 5’s Fire Chief Aaron Bustard, a call for a roadside fire on the southbound side of I5 near Exit 14 in Ashland came in just before 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
When crews arrived, they saw a significant column of smoke and about five acres of land on fire, causing them to call in additional units.
“Priorities were structural protection so it burned up off the freeway, but we do have a neighborhood on Windemar and down here on Clayton. So, they were all immediately threatened so most of our resources we put through those homes,” Bustard said.
Leslie Stone, an Ashland resident who lives close to where the fire was, says she didn’t realize anything was happening until an app told her to look outside.
“I was writing an abstract for a paper, sitting quietly all by myself, not even worrying about anything when I got a notification on Watch Duty. Sure enough, opened up and widened that map and it’s right there,” Stone said.
The fire quickly led ODOT to close both southbound lanes.
Help came from Jackson County Fire Districts 3 and 5, Ashland Fire and Rescue, Medford Fire Department, Greensprings Rural Fire District, a task force from Josephine County, and ODF.
“Immediately, a firetruck came ripping down our driveway, saw the pond, peeled backwards out the driveway and within minutes there were helicopters here with water buckets.”
Between 2:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office issued a Level 3 Go Now alert for zone JAC-542 and a Level 2 Be Set alert for zone JAC-541.
ODF says firefighters had the fire 90% wet lined and were keeping it in check by dropping buckets of water from the helicopters shortly after 3:00 p.m.
The Level 3 alert was downgraded to Level 2 just before 4:00 p.m.
Stone says by the time she was ready to leave, the fire was contained.
“You know, it does give you some sense of calm when you have a firetruck, a water truck and two helicopters who were circling and dipping water out of your pond, cycling about every 45 seconds,” Stone said.
The final size of the fire was mapped at 13 acres.
Bustard says there were no injuries or fatalities and only two outbuildings were lost in the flame.
ODF is investigating the cause of the fire.
Crews are continuing the mop up through the night and are monitoring in the morning as well.
Bustard says by being proactive, the residents of the area helped keep this fire minimum.
“You know, a lot of the homeowners up here have done a good job of creating a really good green space around their house and that really helped with our initial attack and being able to defend those areas,” Bustard said.
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