Aug. 19--Firefighters and emergency workers from Portland, Vancouver, Multnomah County, Gresham and the Port of Portland are battling a stubborn, windblown three-alarm fire on Government Island.
The blaze, which started about 1 p.m. Monday, begin burning in a large field of grass and quickly sent large clouds of smoke billowing skyward. The smoke could be seen from all over the Portland metro area.
It quickly spread to about 20 acres and appeared to be growing as it burned into rows of trees and blackberry bushes, according to Lt. Rich Chatman, spokesman for the Portland Fire Bureau.
The blaze was unusual in that it's taking place in a relatively hard-to-reach location. Government Island occupies about 1,700 acres that stretch east to west on the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver.
"This is a logistically not the easiest situation for us," said Chatman. "We have to get all the firefighters and their equipment on boats."
By 3 p.m., about 70 to 80 firefighters were battling the fire, which started on the southeastern side of the island. Chatman said he still didn't know how much of the fire had been contained.
Along with fighting the blaze, workers were also helping evacuate 20 to 30 people who had been camping on or boating from the island, which is a popular recreation area, according to Lt. Steve Alexander of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said.
"A lot of the initial efforts were to get the people off the island," said Chatman. "They were able to that pretty quickly."
While the west end of the island runs parallel to Portland International Airport, air travel had not been affected by 3 p.m., according to Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Port of Portland.
"All is normal at the airport," said Johnson.
The smoke, however, did impact traffic along Northeast Marine Drive and I-205 in both directions.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has closed the right lane of Interstate 205 northbound so crews can use it to monitor the fire activity.
The closure has backed up traffic, said Don Hamilton, an ODOT spokesman. He urged commuters to take alternate routes.
"We're not expecting that lane to reopen until after the afternoon commute," Hamilton said. "We're monitoring the situation closely and will take whatever steps we need to take to make sure that the bridge is safe and motorists are safe."
While there are no residences on the island, there is at least one barn and it may have been affected, Chatman said.
He said that in addition to the firefighters, eight boats were being used to fight the blaze.
Among those who were on the island when the fire broke out were Ken Paul, 57, of Damascus; his daughter, Hannah Edlin, 22, of Northwest Portland, and her three nephews.
Paul said that when he first saw the fire, he thought it was a car that had caught fire on the Glenn Jackson Bridge, which carries I-205 across the island. But then he saw black smoke, followed by white smoke. A short time later, he saw emergency equipment heading toward the island on boats.
That's when he and his family jumped on their boat and left the island.
Chatman said about 3:15 p.m. that he was pretty sure that everyone had been evacuated from the island, but that the shifting wind was making things difficult.
He added that the fire was burning in "fingers" -- long and narrow columns along the ground with space in between. He said crews were putting out the fingers one at a time, but he expected them to be working throughout the night.
-- Lynne Terry and Simina Mistreanu
Copyright 2013 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
