Brush fires hit two fields
On Thursday July 12th, 2012 Orland Fire was
notified of a grass fire in the area of 157th and Wolf. Companies
were dispatched and while en route noted a column of smoke West of Wolf Rd.
Initial crews were on the scene within 5 minutes locating the incident at 157th
and 116th Ct. A large area of tall brush was burning with exposure
to a home. Orland responded with two engines, a truck, an ambulance along chief
officers. Orland was able to deploy its brush unit into the area that was
burning to help control the spread and extinguish the fire. Assistance was
received from Homer Fire’s brush unit along with a 2000 gallon water tender
from Northwest Homer since there were no close hydrants to the scene. The cause
of the fire is unknown but the extremely dry weather contributed to the spread.
The fire was contained within 15 minutes and extinguished in about 45 minutes.
There were no injuries and no property loss other than vegetation.
Five days earlier, on Saturday night July 7, 2012, the
Orland Fire District received 911 calls at about 21:30 for a large brush fire
in that area. Orland units arrived within 5 minutes for find a large area of
what was swamp burning. The initial engine, brush unit, and chief were
supplemented by additional Orland companies, including 2 engines, a truck, an
ambulance and chief. Assistance was also requested from Northwest Homer for a
water tender due to the distance of hydrants in the area off of 143rd.
The fire was contained in about 45 minutes but crews remained on the scene for
over 2 hours to extinguish hot spots. Over the next week, the Orland Fire
District has responded to the same area numerous times for reoccurring hot
spots. The area was determined to contain peat soil below the surface which due
to the dry weather is no longer wet and susceptible to risk of burning. On
Wednesday night fire department crews used thermal imaging cameras to identify
the hot spots at the surface and marked them. The Orland Fire District had a
crew on the scene both Thursday and Friday using a brush unit for several hours
to concentrate on the hot spots that are appearing on the surface. These hot
spots were detected to have a surface temperature of 500 degrees. There were no
injuries reported and no property damage other than the vegetation on public
land. Orland Fire is continuing to concentrate efforts on the hot spots to
eliminate concern of the residents and reoccurring calls to the area for smoke.
Battalion Chief Dan Smith
Editor’s Note: Attached photos from the 157th and
Wolf Road fire
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