Firefighters respond to illegal fire at River Beach; Seven acres of brush, scrub pine charredWARRENTON – A spectacular blaze on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park Tuesday night burned seven acres of brush and scrub pine before it was finally put out about 11 p.m.

At one point ,flames shot 30 feet into the air.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew flying over the area spotted the fire at 7:05 p.m., said Petty Officer Justin Erdman at Air Station Astoria.

The fire began in the brush on Clatsop Spit between the Columbia River and the ocean, near the South Jetty.

“It was definitely human-caused,” said Neal Laugle, protection supervisor for the Oregon Department of Forestry. Laugle, who cut his hand when he tripped and fell while helping to battle the fire, was the only one injured. No structures of any kind were damaged.

Laugle said there’s some evidence that a small beach fire on the river beach, where fires are prohibited, spread to beach grass. He said it appears that a vehicle drove from the area of the fire to the nearby Fishermen’s parking lot.

Clatsop County’s fire investigation team, comprised of members from ODF and most local fire departments, will try to determine the cause of the fire today.

Warrenton Fire Chief Ted Ames was the first one on the scene, arriving around 7:15 p.m. At that time, just one or two acres were on fire.

By the time Lewis and Clark volunteers were called out around 9 p.m., flames were 30-feet high and a big “mushroom cloud” of smoke hovered over the area, said Klyde Thompson, the department’s assistant chief.

He said Lewis and Clark had been holding a drill involving a tender when the call for assistance came in, so crews were able to respond immediately.

A total of 19 Warrenton volunteers responded, as well as crews from Knappa, Gearhart, Lewis and Clark and ODF. Astoria volunteers provided back-up.

Ames said Warrenton first attacked the fire with hand tools and water from five-gallon “bladder bags.” The area is inaccessible to fire trucks because of soft sand and tidal flooding.

But within minutes, a 3,000-gallon Warrenton tender was set up in the staging area at Parking Lot C, filling a portable tank. A portable pump was used to pump water through about 2,000 feet of hose from the parking lot to the fire. State Forestry and Lewis and Clark also provided tenders.

Parking Lot C will continue to be used as a staging area during mop-up operations today and will be closed to the public.

ODF brought in a 10-person prison crew from South Fork in Tillamook County whose members worked all night, mopping up the fire. Two more prison crews will be on the scene today. ODF’s Laugle said they’ll use hand tools to break up driftwood to be sure the fire is out. He said an excavator may be brought in.

Mike Stein, assistant area manager for Oregon state parks on the North Coast, is a volunteer with the Warrenton Fire Department. He said today the Warrenton Fire Department routinely conducts training exercises at Fort Stevens. “We’re happy to host them,” Stein said. He said WFD and ODF work together on pre-fire planning. “They work out different scenarios based on the situation that happened last night,” he said.

A wildland fire drill for area firefighters held at Rilea Armed Forces Training Camp at the end of June was a big help in preparing for the Tuesday night fire, said Laugle. It was a really good interagency effort, he said.

Chief Ames said today that no matter how foggy or drizzly it looks people should be very cautious with fire because the weather has been extremely dry.

“Every day it’s drying out a little more,” he said.