A crew from Canby was one part of a Clackamas County task force deployed this morning to the sprawling Mosier Creek wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge.
Forestry officials reported Thursday morning that the wildfire has spread to 800 acres and threatens approximately 900 homes. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from the Osburne Cutoff, Vensel, Catron, Dry Creek, Carroll and Morgenson areas of Wasco County.
According to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, the fire was human-caused and is less than 5% contained.
Governor Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act late Wednesday in response to the blaze, ordering the Office of State Fire Marshal to mobilize an incident management team and eight task forces to the response.
Chief Jim Davis told the Canby Now Podcast the team sent by Canby Fire District is led by Captain Jason Wanner and includes firefighters Brad Frank and Bo Ramos.
Crews were scheduled to begin arriving at 8 a.m. Thursday morning to assume firefighting operations.