Eagle Creek Fire: Fire Crews Reduced To 160+; Wet Weather Helping Curb Growth; Gorge Camera Fizzles

CASCADE LOCKS, OR — Just more than 160 firefighting personnel remain in the Columbia River Gorge as the Eagle Creek Fire slowly winds down after burning almost 50,000 acres over three weeks. And though containment is holding at just 46 percent, Oregon State Fire Marshal officials say the recent wet weather is helping to reduce most open flames to a "smoldering state."

The fire has not grown in the past 24 hours, officials said, though some open flames have still been observed across the fire zone, creating some smoky conditions in the area. Officials said larger trees and denser brush patches could continue to burn slow for some time, though they did not give any kind of time estimate.

The flash flood warning from earlier this week expired at noon Wednesday, officials said, noting that hazardous conditions remain in the area nevertheless. Across the burn scar, suddenly wet conditions can increase the chances for falling trees and rocks, landslides, and mudslides, officials said.

As weather conditions resume drier patterns early next week, officials said, crews will monitor the fire for any new flare-ups. Temperatures are expected to rise to the low 80s by midweek, according to National Weather Service forecasters.

Improving conditions allowed Multnomah and Hood River counties' sheriff's offices to rescind most of the evacuation orders on Monday, and last weekend Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials reopened the westbound lanes of Interstate-84.

There is no clear timeline for when ODOT will reopen I-84's eastbound lanes.

In related news, local photographer Oca Hoeflein's camera in Stevenson, Washington, died Tuesday night.

Hoeflein had setup the camera to provide interested fire-watchers an up-to-the-minute look at conditions in the gorge near Cascade Locks via his website whereinthegorge.com. The images had been uploading remotely every few minutes since the first weekend after the fire began Sept. 2.

The images were captured on Hoeflein's Canon 40D DSLR camera, which Hoeflein said has a lifespan of about 40,000 to 80,000 shutter clicks. Shooting photographs every three minutes, the camera automatically uploaded to his whereinthegorge.com site so viewers from around the world could get a clear view of on-going Eagle Creek Fire conditions.

Originally, the camera was pointed toward the westside of Cascade Locks, the city nearest to the fire, from across the Columbia River in Stevenson, Washington. Hoeflein, 44, lives in Battle Ground, Washington, but runs a real estate magazine that covers 15 communities along the gorge.

Patch reported earlier that Hoeflein heard people who live in the forested area around Cascade Locks weren't able to keep track of the fire's movement; so, to give them a live view of the fire, he picked up his camera from where he normally leaves it near Mt. Adams and took it to Stevenson the first Sunday night of the fire — just in time for its biggest growth.

What Hoeflein's camera captured — a time-lapse series of shots showing the fire spread across a hillside near Cascade Locks from 5 p.m. Sept. 4 to 5 a.m. Sept. 5 — ended up with more than 60,000 views on YouTube and earned Hoeflein a guest spot on KGW's Portland Today morning show.

On Sept. 20, Hoeflein shared an update on whereinthegorge.com:

(Editor's Note: Hoeflein's post has been edited here for punctuation and clarity. To see his original post, click here.)

Well, it's official; my backup DSLR camera bit the dust today. I had a feeling it wouldn't last long. The technical reason is that these DSLR cameras have a mechanical "shutter" that are only rated from 40,000 to 80,000 photos before they fail. I took over 7,000 photos in just 2 weeks (you can see how this adds up quickly). It means these are not very good cameras for permanent installations.

The Canon 5D series, however, is rated at 1 million shutter releases. I saved up my money for the Mt. Adams camera last year and put a 5D Mark II there, so it's running great now. However, a used 5D Mark II costs $1,000. To date, donations (to whereinthegorge.com) have raised $385, so I'm (one-third) of the way to paying for a better camera that I'm planning to have running 24/7 overlooking the gorge near Hood River. So, until then, it's been fun.

I'll be posting more of the time lapse videos of the fire over the coming days/weeks; if anyone is interested, you can follow me here (or) on Facebook, and you should see the updates. Thank you for your kind words; it was my pleasure to help provide live imagery of the fire; hopefully it was helpful.

Photo Courtesy: Multnomah County Communications, Flickr