Efforts to fight the Game Hog Creek Fire burning in the Tillamook State Forest have hit a snag today, with two of three helicopters expected to fight the fire knocked out of commission by mechanical problems Saturday morning. Now, the Oregon Department of Forestry is scrambling to get additional air support in the form of two single engine air tanker that can scoop water from Hagg Lake to dump on the flames. With the two helicopters unusable until they can be repaired, that leaves currently one smaller helicopter considered a Type 2 helicopter still in use at the fire. Were still trying to stop the fire in the canyon, and we really need air support, said ODF Forest Grove District Forester Mike Cafferata in a phone call Saturday morning with this publication. The two planes, inbound from ODF's The Dalles unit, will provide a much-needed tool to fight the fire, scooping loads of 800 gallons at a time to drop on the fire. The planes will be working the fire for two hours each, Cafferata said.�A Chinook helicopter already in use at the fire suffered a transmission problem, Cafferata said, while a Black Hawk helicopter that was scheduled to join fire crews at the Game Hog Creek Fire suffered electrical problems. An estimate on when repairs could be completed was not known for either helicopter.Cafferata said that the fire has likely grown a couple of acres from the last count of 133 acres, but that the growth is all in the north end of the hard-to-reach canyon where Elk Creek runs through. The Oregon Department of Forestry confirmed that the fire had grown to about 135 acres in a press release. All water access to Hagg Lake is now closed to allow a firefighting plane to pick up water for the Game Hog Creek Fire, the Washington County Sheriffs Office said in a tweet just before 11 a.m. Saturday. Scoggins Valley Park surrounding the lake remains open. Previous fire updates here
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This story has been updated with additional information and to correct a quote from ODF's Mike Cafferata.
Cal Mukumoto, the head of the Oregon Department of Forestry announced his resignation in a brief letter Thursday during a Board of Forestry meeting, noting his last day would be Jan. 23. He'll temporarily be replaced by Kate Skinner, Tillamook District Forester.
A proposed toll road linking Forest Grove and Tillamook faced opposition, but Gales Creek residents would take any road they could get, according to a 1925 newspaper article.
"County Jail Filled to Overflow With Arrests Made" including Ernest Narver, Frank Kearns, Thomas Young, and Roy Kearns, all arrested at Balm Grove on liquor possession charges in Prohibition-era Gales Creek.
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May. These fires are all preventable, said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
