An Oregon firefighter who was trapped by a wildfire with around 60 other people said intense winds fueled the flames, ravaging homes and creating a frightening for hours.
Idanha-Detroit Rural Fire Protection District firefighter Laura Harris was part of the crews that were helping evacuate residents threatened by the Sanitiam Fire near Detroit, KPTV-TV reports. But conditions quickly deteriorated, and Harris realized the rescuers needed rescuing.
“We were starting to see flames coming in pretty close to us and the winds were blowing it just right toward us," she told KPTV. “A couple of our firefighters were calling their families to say they loved them. It kind of got to that point. It was scary.”
The group stayed at the Mongold Day Use Area near Detroit Lake. They told residents to stay in there car, and those without cars were able to sit in pieces of apparatus to keep out of the wind and smoke.
"(Several young children) didn’t have any shoes on, any jackets, so we were able to donate a couple pairs of socks to them to keep them warm," Harris told KPTV.
National Guard helicopters were called in as an escape option, but it was too dangerous for them to fly in.
“We were wide awake, watching the fire, we had fire glow 365 degrees around us," Harris said. “I took solace that my family was already evacuated.”
Eventually, forest service workers were able to get Harris and the others out through service roads to Government Camp near Mount Hood.
“We were actually driving through fire a little bit there," she told KPTV. "We could feel the heat coming into our vehicles.”
As of late Wednesday, the Sanitiam Fire had burned down the Detroit City Hall, which also was the fire department's headquarters. The wildfire also destroyed one of the department's pieces of apparatus, KPTV added.
