Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue has deployed 22 pieces of apparatus and dozens of personnel to nine wildfires burning across Oregon, a major scale-up from the agency's initial wildfire response in mid-July.
The numbers are striking.
The deployment figures, current as of Wednesday, Aug. 5, mark a significant expansion from TVF&R's first wildfire mobilization this season, when the agency joined a Washington County strike team headed to the East Evans Creek Fire near Medford on July 16.
Among those deployed: Battalion Chief Ian Yocum of Newberg's Station 21, who served on an Oregon State Fire Marshal incident management team at the Akawa Butte Fire north of Sisters.
Brush Rig 21 and its crew, also from Station 21, are fighting the Second Flat Fire near Burns in rural Harney County as part of a Yamhill County task force. That fire had consumed more than 105,000 acres of timber and grasslands as of Wednesday, Aug. 5 and was 55% contained, with nearly 500 personnel on scene.
Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the Second Flat Fire on July 26 and for the Akawa Butte and Brewer fires on July 28. Under that act, crews deploy at the request of the state fire marshal's office for up to two weeks at a time.
All TVF&R firefighters are certified as Type 2 wildland firefighters, according to Your Oregon News, which first reported the deployment details. Some personnel also serve on the agency's specialized Wildland Team, which responds to large conflagrations statewide.
Local coverage stays intact, agency says
For Tigard, Tualatin, Bull Mountain and Durham residents watching smoke settle over the valley, Public Affairs Officer Corrine Haning offered reassurance that the deployments aren't thinning local protection.
"Our first priority is always maintaining the staffing and resources needed to protect the communities within our district," Haning said. "For that reason, TVF&R fulfills mutual aid requests only when in-district staffing levels can support sending personnel and equipment to assist elsewhere."
The wildfire season's reach has already touched the Tigard area directly. Smoke from the Grasshopper Fire east of Government Camp, which had burned more than 39,000 acres at 20% containment as of Wednesday, Aug. 5, pushed air quality into unhealthy-for-sensitive-groups territory on Tuesday, Aug. 4 and Wednesday, Aug. 5. That smoke prompted Tigard police and other Washington County departments to cancel National Night Out visits on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Oregon had roughly 30 large wildfires burning as of late July, with approximately 1.84 million acres burned statewide for the season, approaching the modern state record of 1.94 million acres set in 2024.
No specific return date has been announced for TVF&R crews currently deployed. Residents can report fire concerns to TVF&R's non-emergency line.
