July 8, 2023

Report Details

A beach brush fire occurred on July 2 around 3 p.m. on Mile 200. I followed the Lincoln County OR Emergency Management on Facebook and saw the evacuation notices.  A LEVEL 3 - GO NOW evacuation (evaculate immediately) was issued for areas S of Waldport, Hwy 101 - White Cap Road to S.W. Azalea Lane area at around 4 p.m. A LEVEL 2 - BE SET to Evacuate was issued for  nearby areas. July 2 was a very windy day and they were worried the fire would jump 101 and endanger the houses on the east side of 101.The Yachats Newspaper (YachatsNews.com) reported that evening more details about the fire:   A four-mile stretch of 101 was closed until at least 9 p.m. Sunday. A massive response from five local fire departments kept the fire contained. "This is the worst early fire weather we've had in years" said the incident commander from Central OR Coast Fire & Rescue. An eyewitness told firefighters he saw a firework go off, then smoke and a man run up the trail to get a fire extinguisher out of his vehicle. He took off when he saw the extinguisher could not deal with the rapidly spreading fire. Later, the deputy state fire marshal and state police troopers found remnants of a mortar from the burned area.I went today to see what damage was done. The section of the beach that was burnt was on a small dune at the base of a sandstone cliff. The vegetation was mainly beachgrass, shore pines and old logs that had washed up from high tides.  There is a 101 car pullout beside the north end of where the fire occurred. In some places, I could see a trench dug in the sand on the dune.